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THE BRITONS PREPARE TO DEFEND THEIR HOMES 
(See page 6) 
















STORIES FROM 
ENGLISH HISTORY 



BY 


ALBERT F. BLAISDELL 

\\ 


REVISED EDITION 



GINN AND COMPANY 

BOSTON • NEW YORK • CHICAGO • LONDON 
ATLANTA • DALLAS • COLUMBUS • SAN FRANCISCO 











COPYRIGHT, 1897, 1924, BY GINN AND COMPANY 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 


324-3 




©Cl A792322 


Cfte atbensum freest 

GINN AND COMPANY • PRO- 
PRIETORS • BOSTON • U.S.A. 


HAY -9 '24 



PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION 


This is a book of stories from English history, edited 
for school and home use. These stories have been writ¬ 
ten in an easy and familiar style, and in simple language 
to attract and hold the attention of young people. 

The stories comprise notable and dramatic events in 
English history, carefully compiled and rewritten from the 
writings of well-known authors. It has been the aim of 
the author to provide in a readable form a convenient in¬ 
troduction to more advanced books which have been writ¬ 
ten on a similar subject. 

Personal anecdotes and incidents which thrill us be¬ 
cause of their human element, and which smack of the 
picturesque life of the English people, have been freely 
used. Such material, instinct with human life, serves a 
useful purpose in teaching elementary history. Experi¬ 
enced teachers know that a bit of romance, a simple in¬ 
cident, or an interesting story will throw more light on a 
historical situation than many pages of mere description. 

More than twenty-five years have passed since this 
book was first published. Meanwhile great and important 
improvements have been made by our leading publishers 
in the typographical appearance of their books. The 

V 


vi STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

author has taken the advantage of a call for a revised 
edition to revise the text and to provide illustrative 
material in accord with the demands of the present time. 

The author would acknowledge his indebtedness to 
Miss Elise C. Dodge for help in revising the manuscript, 
and for assistance in reading the proofs of this edition. 


A. F. BLAISDELL 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Britain in the Old Days . i 

II. How the Romans came to Britain .... 6 

III. The Story of the Captive King. 9 

IV. The Story of the Brave Warrior Queen . . 13 

V. The Coming of the English.17 

VI. How the English became Christians ... 21 

VII. How the Old English People lived .... 26 

VIII. How King Alfred ruled England.30 

IX. How a Dane came to be King of England . . 36 

X. King Canute, the Dane.40 

XI. The Story of the Norman Conquest .... 45 

XII. The Death of the Red King.52 

XIII. The Loss of the White Ship .57 

XIV. The Normans and how they lived .... 62 

XV. Richard the Lion-Hearted.66 

XVI. The Sad Story of Little Prince Arthur . . 71 

XVII. The Black Prince at the Battle of Crecy . 77 

XVIII. The Good Queen and the Brave Citizens . . 81 

XIX. How Wat Tyler led a Revolt of the Common 

People.85 

XX. Prince Hal and the Great Victory of Agincourt 90 

XXI. Brave Knights and how they fought in Olden 

Times. 94 

vii 













viii STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XXII. Queen Margaret and the Robber . . . . ioo 

XXIII. The Princes in the Tower ..... 104 

XXIV. The First English Printer.107 

XXV. The Story of the "Invincible Armada” . . no 

XXVI. Two Famous Men who lived in the Days of 

Queen Elizabeth.117 

XXVII. Death of Charles the First.122 

XXVIII. How King Charles the Second escaped from 

his Enemies.127 

XXIX. The Story of the Great Plague in London 133 

XXX. The Great Fire of London.138 

XXXI. The Flight of James the Second . . . . 141 

XXXII. The Famous Siege of Londonderry . . . 144 

XXXIII. Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Escape .... 148 

XXXIV. The Black Hole of Calcutta.152 

XXXV. The Brave Lord Nelson.155 

XXXVI. The Iron Duke and the Battle of Waterloo 159 

XXXVII. Two Great Inventors.164 

XXXVIII. How Victoria became Queen of Great Britain 169 
XXXIX. How they Fought in the Crimea . . . 173 

XL. The Lady with the Lamp.177 

XLI. The Mutiny in India.181 

XLII. The Victoria Cross.185 

XLIII. The Last Journey of the Unknown Soldier 188 
XLIV. Britain Then and Now.192 

BOOKS FOR REFERENCE AND COLLATERAL READING . 195 













STORIES FROM 
ENGLISH HISTORY 


i 

BRITAIN IN THE OLD DAYS 
Before the Birth of Christ 

A long, long time ago, before the English came to live in 
England, the country was called Britain, and the people 
who then lived in it were called Britons. 

Now you must know that Britain in the old days did not 
look as England does now, and that the old Britons did not 
live like the English people of our day, or dress like them, 
or speak as they speak. 

I am going to tell you about people who lived two 
thousand years ago. Think what a long time that is, a 
hundred years before Christ was born. 

If you had been living in England two thousand years 
ago, what would you have seen ? I am sure you cannot tell 
me, so I will tell you. You would have seen the same hills 
that are to be seen today, and the same valleys, and rivers, 
and lakes. But little else would have been as it is now. 


2 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


You would have seen no busy towns, no quiet, cozy vil¬ 
lages, with their church spires peeping out above the trees, 
no farms, no orchards or gardens, no paved streets, no 
steam or electric cars, no automobiles, no big cotton mills, 
and no network of telephone wires. 

But instead you would have seen great dark forests 
spreading far and wide, where the wolf and the bear had 
their dens, and broad, still pools where the land was low, 
and patches of open country that the plow had never 
broken. 

Here and there you might have seen a number of huts 
made of wickerwork and mud, with no windows and only a 
hole at the top to let out the smoke. They were built on 
the edge of some forest, with a ditch dug round them, or 
trunks of trees piled up in front of them to keep out the 
wild beasts. These clusters of huts were all the towns 
there were. 

And how did the people look, you will ask, in those dim, 
long-past ages? Well, they were tall and fair; they had 
blue eyes and long yellow hair. But they looked like sav¬ 
ages and lived like savages. They did not know how to 
read or write. Most of them went half naked, with only 
the skins of wild beasts about them; and they stained their 
bodies with a blue dye to make themselves look fierce. 

They made no coins, but used metal rings for money. 
They were clever in basketwork, as savage people often 
are, and they could make a coarse kind of cloth. 


BRITAIN IN THE OLD DAYS 


3 


For boats they had "coracles,” or basket-boats, made 
of twisted twigs and covered with the skins of animals. 
In these they paddled along the rivers to catch fish. They 
killed the fish with spears made of wood, or else caught 
them with hooks made of bone. Many of their boats were 
so light that a man, or even a boy, could carry one home 
on his back. These basket-boats are still used by fishermen 
on the rivers in Wales. 

Many of the old Britons were hunters, who lived on the 
animals they slew and on the wild fruits that grew in the 
woods. Some of them were herdsmen, who lived mostly on 
milk and the flesh of their cattle. A few, who dwelt in the 
south and were less savage, tilled little patches of grain 
and traded with merchants who now and then came over 
from lands beyond the seas. 

The Britons made awkward-shaped swords of copper 
mixed with tin, which were so soft that a heavy blow would 
bend them. They also made light shields, short pointed 
daggers, and spears. After they had thrown daggers and 
spears at an enemy, they jerked them back with a long 
strip of leather fastened to the shaft. At the butt end of 
the spear or dagger was a rattle which the warrior used to 
frighten an enemy’s horse. 

The ancient Britons, being divided into as many as 
thirty or forty tribes, each with its own little king, were 
constantly fighting with one another, as savage people 
usually do. 


4 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


They were very fond of horses. They could break them 
in and manage them wonderfully well. They were also 
very clever in making war chariots. These chariots had a 
large, sharp-curved scythe fastened to the axle of each 
wheel, and made much havoc when driven into the thick 
of the fight. 

While at full speed, the horses would stop at the driver’s 
word. The men within would leap out, deal blows about 
them with their swords, leap on the horses or on the 
pole, spring back into the chariots, and away they would 
tear again. 

I am sorry to tell you that these old Britons did not know 
the true God. They used to worship the sun and the moon, 
and held sacred the mistletoe that grows on the oak tree. 

Their priests, who were called Druids, used to teach 
them that when they died their souls would go into the 
bodies of beasts, and that to burn their enemies taken in 
battle was right and pleasing to their gods. 

These Druids had great power among the people. They 
settled all disputes, and if any man refused to obey their 
orders, he was treated as an outcast from the tribe. The 
Druids carried on their worship in the gloomy shade of 
oak groves. Sometimes, as a religious offering to their gods, 
they put to death large numbers of men and women. 

The Druids had great regard for the mistletoe. When 
this plant was found growing upon an oak tree, the chief 
Druid called all the tribe together on the first day of the 


BRITAIN IN THE OLD DAYS 


5 


new year, and with much show cut down the plant with a 
golden sickle. The mistletoe was then given away in pieces, 
to be taken home as a lucky charm for the new year. 

At Christmas time we still like to place this plant in our 
houses, and in this way we are reminded, when the glad 
holiday comes, of this old custom of the Druids. 

Reading-Note 

Probably the most interesting and picturesque description ever 
written of England in the olden days from the time of the Druids to 
the Norman Conquest may be found in Miller’s " History of the Anglo- 
Saxons.” It is a work little known, but may be found in Bohn’s 
Standard Library or in the public libraries of our larger cities. No 
better reference book could be used by teachers from which to make 
select readings for the first eleven stories of this book. 

In the Reading-Notes, which may be found at the end of a number 
of the following chapters, references are made only to a few of the 
more elementary books which may furnish interesting and instructive 
collateral reading to pupils for whom this book has been written. 


II 


HOW THE ROMANS CAME TO BRITAIN 
Fifty-five Years before the Birth of Christ 

One bright morning in summer, in the old days we have 
been speaking of, a great crowd of Britons stood on the 
white chalk cliffs of Kent. Every now and then they looked 
across the narrow seas toward France, or Gaul, as it was 
called at that time. 

It was plain that they were making ready for a battle. 
Every man was half naked, his breast and arms and face 
painted with new war paint, and a weapon of some sort in 
his hand. Some had clubs, some had spears, some had 
flint-headed darts to throw at their foes, and a few of them 
had long blunt swords and round shields of basketwork 
with which to guard their bodies. 

Most of them were on foot, but a few rode on horseback, 
while some stood up in low wooden chariots drawn by two 
horses. These war chariots, you will remember, had a 
sharp scythe fastened to the axle of each wheel, which 
cut down men as a mower cuts down grass. 

But why were the Britons standing on the cliffs this 
bright summer morning ? Why did they keep looking over 

the sea toward Gaul ? Let me tell you. A vessel had come 

6 


HOW THE ROMANS CAME TO BRITAIN 


7 


in with the startling news that a Roman army which had 
been fighting against the Gauls was coming across the sea 
to conquer Britain. 

The news roused the country like a trumpet blast. 
Julius Caesar, a brave and skillful general, who had con¬ 
quered wherever he fought, was coming to invade Britain. 

Men sprang to their horses. Through the forests and 
over the hills, from one village to another, they rode shout¬ 
ing their war cry and calling the people to arms. Before 
long not a man was to be seen in the grainfields. The 
women and children stayed at home and took care of 
the cattle. 

The news which the vessel had brought was indeed true. 
The Britons soon spied, far out at sea, a number of black 
specks that looked at first like a flock of sea gulls. As they 
came nearer and nearer, the Britons saw that they were 
Roman ships, full of Roman soldiers, whose bright brass 
helmets and brass breastplates flashed in the summer sun. 

Before the prows of the Roman ships could touch the 
beach the Britons dashed into the sea, and with savage 
war shouts flung their darts at the Romans. For a while 
the Romans, though brave and fearless, dared not leave 
their ships. But at last a soldier who carried the Roman 
standard, a small golden eagle on a staff, leaped into the 
waves and called out to his comrades, "Follow me!” 

Then the Romans leaped into the sea; for no Roman 
soldier dared to leave the eagle in the hands of the foe, or 


8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

he would be put to death in his own land. Grasping their 
short, sharp swords and raising their great shields to keep 
off the darts, they rushed in a long, solid line up the beach. 

The poor naked savages fought like lions, but they were 
no match for the well-drilled soldiers of Rome. Before the 
close of that summer day the sand on the beach was strewn 
with the dead and the dying. The Britons had been driven 
back to their woods, but they were not yet beaten. 

From their forest homes they watched the enemy; and, 
fighting in war chariots, on horseback, or on foot, they 
constantly cut off small parties and lonely camps. When 
armies fought, the dreaded chariots of the Britons swept 
like the rush of a torrent through the Roman ranks, leaving 
behind them a path of dead bodies. Once when some 
Roman soldiers went out to reap grain, the Britons fell 
upon them so suddenly that few escaped. 

Caesar had to bring over more soldiers and fight many 
more battles before the Britons gave in and were forced 
to call the Romans their masters. It was agreed that the 
Britons should pay a yearly sum of money to Caesar. 

Soon afterward Caesar went back to Gaul, never to 
return; glad, no doubt, to leave a country where little 
was to be had except by hard fighting. 

Reading-Note 

Read selections from Henty’s "Beric the Briton/’ a story of the 
Roman invasion. 


Ill 


THE STORY OF THE CAPTIVE KING 
Fifty Years after the Birth of Christ 

We have seen that Caesar soon went away from Britain. 
Almost a hundred years after, the Romans came again 
with ships and with a great number of soldiers. Again 
the Britons fought bravely for their country. 

Among the British chiefs in those days, one stands out 
in fame above all the rest. His name was Caractacus. He 
was a brave warrior, and he dearly loved his country. His 
bravery, skill, and courage were talked about all over the 
island, and his fame reached even as far as the city of 
Rome itself. 

The Romans hoped to kill him in battle or to take him 
prisoner, for they knew that while he was alive and free 
the conquest of the land would not be easy. For nine long 
years he struggled against the Romans and gave them blow 
for blow, but he was driven back at last into the hill 
country of the west. 

There is a high hill in the west of England with a swift 
river flowing at its foot, which the people to this day call 
the Camp of Caractacus. Here the brave chief fought 

9 


io STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

his last battle. One day his little band of Britons, all that 
was now left to him, was standing on this hill, when they 
saw a great Roman army marching up the valley. The 
Romans were ten to one; but the British king drew up his 
men behind walls of earth and loose stones, and called on 
them to defend their homes and their native land with the 
last drop of their blood. "Conquer the Romans / 7 he cried, 
"or they will make you slaves.” 

The Romans came up, dashed across the river, and made 
a rush up the hillside. The Britons flung their darts at 
them as they came on. But the Roman soldiers lifted their 
shields above their heads and, putting them side by side, 
made a sort of roof of them. When the darts struck the 
shields they bounded off, as you have sometimes seen 
hailstones bound off a roof in a pelting storm. 

There was a fierce hand-to-hand fight on the hilltop, but 
it was soon over. The blunt swords of the Britons were 
useless against the brass armor and the shields of the 
Romans, who thrust their sharp steel blades into the 
half-naked bodies of their enemies. 

The Britons were beaten, and the heroic chief and his 
wife and daughter fell into the hands of the Romans. Then 
they were put in chains and sent to Rome as captives. 

It was a custom of the Romans, when they took noble 
captives in battle, to lead them through their city and make 
a great show of them in long procession before putting 
them to death. So the British king, with a train of captives, 


THE STORY OF THE CAPTIVE KING 


ii 


was led in triumph through the streets of Rome. People 
crowded the streets and windows and housetops to catch 
a sight of him, for all of them had heard of the tall blue¬ 
eyed savage who had beaten the best soldiers of Rome in 
many a hard-fought battle. 

When the proud captive king saw marble temples and 
rich palaces on every side of him, he could not help saying, 
"Why should these Romans, who have such grand houses 
at home, wish to rob me of my lowly hut in Britain ? ” 

The captives were led before the ruler of the Romans, 
the Emperor Claudius, who sat on his throne in the open 
air. As they came near him they lifted up their chained 
hands and wept and cried aloud for mercy, all but Carac- 
tacus. He stood erect; and no proud Roman in the crowd 
around the throne looked more fearless than he. 

"Briton,” said the emperor in surprise, "knowest thou 
not that thou must die ? All who bear arms against Rome, 
as thou hast done, are doomed to death.” 

"Torn from my home and robbed of freedom,” replied 
Caractacus, "I have nothing now to live for; nor do I fear 
death more here than on the field of battle.” 

Struck with his noble bearing, the emperor made up his 
mind to grant him his life. 

"Thou shalt not die,” he said. "Thou art free. Rome 
is able to forgive a brave enemy.” 

The Roman soldiers at once struck off his chains, and 
from that day Caractacus was free. 


12 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


Some of the old books tell us that Caractacus went back 
to Britain and was made a prince under the Romans, but 
nothing more than I have told you is really known about 
him. No one knows whether his great heart broke and he 
died in Rome, or whether he ever returned to his own 
dear country. It was very difficult to send or hear news 
in those early days, so perhaps the brave Caractacus never 
knew that his people still kept on fighting for their free¬ 
dom. Indeed they often succeeded in getting the better 
of the Roman soldiers. 

After many years the Romans became masters of the 
land. Yet it was a good thing for the country that the 
Romans became masters of Britain. During the nearly 
four hundred years that they ruled the land they taught 
the people many useful things which you may read about 
in the next chapter. 


IV 


THE STORY OF THE BRAVE WARRIOR QUEEN 
Sixty-one Years after the Birth of Christ 

In the eastern part of Britain there lived in the old days 
of which I am telling you a British queen named Boadicea. 
She was the widow of a king who had ruled over a large 
and warlike tribe. The Roman general who commanded 
in Britain at this time had gone to the other side of the 
island to attack the Druids. In his place he left an officer, 
a cruel man who hated the Britons. 

This cruel officer tried to force Boadicea to give up her 
land to him, and because she would not he ordered her to 
be publicly beaten with rods. So the proud queen was 
punished in the presence of the Romans, and her two 
daughters were also most cruelly treated. 

When Boadicea was set free she called upon the Britons 
to rise and fight against the Romans. So they gathered at 
her bidding by tens of thousands. 

Standing in her chariot, with her long yellow hair 
streaming in the wind, a large golden collar on her neck, a 
loose mantle fastened by a clasp on her breast, she poured 
forth fierce and fiery words to the warriors around her. 

13 


14 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


"Know you,” she cried, "what these bloodthirsty 
Romans have done to your queen? If you are men, you 
will rise and sweep these invaders from our shores. Me, 
a Briton queen, they scourged in the presence of their 
hired legions; me they marked with their cruel whips. 
Rise, Britons, fight for your queen and your homes or be 
forever slaves.” 

The savage Britons answered their queen with furious 
shouts and with the clash of swords and shields. She 
led them against the enemy and routed the Roman army 
with great slaughter. Then she turned against three Roman 
cities and put every man, woman, and child to the sword. 
Seventy thousand of them were slain. The land ran with 
Roman blood, and it seemed as if the Britons were once 
more to hold the island as their own. 

But when the news came to the chief Roman general, 
he hurried back with his men and fell upon the British 
tribes. The brave but unskilled Britons went down before 
the short heavy swords of the Romans like grain before 
the scythe of the reaper. Boadicea herself, when she saw 
all her hopes gone and nothing but a life of slavery before 
her, took poison and died, we are told, rather than fall 
into the hands of the victor. 

In spite of all that the brave Britons could do, the 
Romans made themselves masters of the country. They 
kept many thousands of soldiers in it and ruled it for nearly 
four hundred years. At the end of that time they took 



BOADICEA LEADS HER SOLDIERS TO BATTLE 






i6 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


away their officers and soldiers because these were needed 
in their own land. So Britain once more was left to itself. 

Although the Britons lost their freedom under the rule 
of the Romans, they learned a great deal from their mas¬ 
ters. They learned to build good houses and fine roads, to 
have better clothes, and to live very much more comfort¬ 
ably than they did before the Romans came. 

Often, even now, when men are digging in England they 
find things that were used by the Romans in these old 
times, rusty coins, pieces of plate from which they ate, of 
goblets from which they drank, of pavements on which 
they trod. The wells which the Romans dug give water 
yet, and the roads which they made are highways still. 

In some old battlefields British spearheads and Roman 
armor have been found, mingled together in decay, as they 
fell in the thick of the fight. Traces of Roman camps over¬ 
grown with grass and of mounds that are the burial places 
of countless Britons are to be seen in many parts of the 
country. Across the black moors, those dreary plains in the 
north of England, the old flattened ridge of the Roman 
wall, overrun with moss and weeds, still stretches, a strong 
ruin; and the shepherds and their dogs lie sleeping on it 
as they tend their flocks in the long summer afternoons. 

Reading-Note 

Read Cowper’s poem "Boadicea.” 


V 


THE COMING OF THE ENGLISH 
About Four Hundred and Fifty Years after the Birth of Christ 

As I have told you the Romans were forced at last to 
leave Britain, after having been there nearly four long cen¬ 
turies. Word was brought to them that hordes of savage 
tribes were marching through their own fair, sunny coun¬ 
try of Italy, and that the proud city of Rome itself was in 
danger. So their armies had to leave Britain. 

In a short time there were no Roman soldiers left in any 
part of Britain. The Romans had scarcely gone away from 
the country when their enemies wished they had never left 
it. The truth is these Britons were not so brave as their 
fathers had been, and they had never been taught to fight. 

So when they were left to themselves the fierce, wild 
tribes in the north, called Piets and Scots, came swarming 
into the country, burning the houses, trampling down the 
grainfields, and driving the Britons back into the woods. 

The Romans had built two strong walls across the 
northern part of the country. But as there were no sol¬ 
diers to man these walls, they were no barrier to the wild 
Piets and the hardy Scots, who poured over them in greater 
and greater numbers. 


17 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


In the south fierce bands of coast pirates roved the seas, 
now landing here, now landing there, and taking away with 
them grain and cattle, as much as their ships could hold. 

In their distress the Britons sent a letter to their old 
masters, the Romans, asking for help. 

This letter is called 'The groans of the Britons . 55 It 
says: "The barbarians drive us to the sea; the sea drives 
us back to the barbarians. Between them we are exposed 
to two kinds of death; we are either killed or drowned. 5 ’ 
But no help came from the Romans; they had their own 
troubles and were too busy fighting against their own 
enemies. This state of affairs led the Britons to look to 
others for help. 

Now these bold rovers of the sea that I have just told 
you about were our own English forefathers. The Romans 
knew them very well and feared them too. They called 
them sea wolves, sea dogs, and sea robbers. They came 
from the forests of Jutland (Denmark we call it now) and 
from the German coast near the mouth of the river Elbe. 
The Britons called them Saxons, but they, for the most 
part, called themselves Angles, or English. 

Like the Britons, they were a brave and fearless race, 
fond of fighting and very fond of the sea. They were tall, 
sturdy fellows, with long yellow hair, blue eyes, and ruddy 
faces, true as steel to their friends, but fierce and cruel to 
their enemies. 

Every warrior had his keen-pointed dagger, a tall spear, 


THE COMING OF THE ENGLISH 


19 


a huge battle-ax, and a sharp sword, all of good iron. They 
had also bows and arrows, and some of them carried a 
large, heavy hammer spiked with iron. No helmet was 
proof against this fearful weapon. 

But how came these Angles, or English, to live in Eng¬ 
land, and how came the land to be called Angleland, or 
England? Let me tell you. 

One day when the Scots were plundering the land, three 
ships full of English warriors in strong leather helmets and 
coats made of iron rings were seen cruising off the coast. 
When the British king heard of it he sent word to the sea 
robbers that if they would land upon the coast and help 
him drive back the Scots, he would give them a part of 
England called Kent to live in. 

So the English warriors came under their two chiefs, 
Hengist and Horsa, and drove back the Scots and settled 
in Kent. When they had beaten the Scots, the English 
liked the country so well that they wanted even more land, 
and so used their swords against the Britons themselves. 
They took the whole of Kent from them and made Hengist 
their king. 

Let me now tell you a story of Hengist’s beautiful, fair¬ 
haired daughter, whose name was said to be Rowena. It 
was at a feast that the British king Vortigern saw her. The 
lovely girl filled a bright golden goblet with wine, and, 
smiling sweetly on the Briton, handed it to him with the 
words, "Dear king, I wish you health.” 


20 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


She was so charming that Vortigern fell in love with 
her on the spot and wanted to marry her. This he later 
did. Afterwards, when the Angles began to attack the 
Britons again and to take their land from them, Vorti¬ 
gern grew very angry. 

But when he was going to punish his enemies, Rowena 
begged him to be kind to her people and spare them for 
her sake, softly saying: "Dear king, they are my people. 
Be kind to them, as you loved that Saxon girl who gave 
you the golden goblet of wine at the feast.” 

He always listened to her, and the Angles soon became 
stronger and stronger in Britain and gained more and more 
of Vortigern’s land. At last the poor British chief lost his 
whole kingdom and was put in prison, where he remained 
until his death. 

By and by more English sea kings came over, landed in 
other parts of the country, drove the poor Britons away, 
and settled upon their lands. In this way, inch by inch, 
the Britons were driven back and back from east to west, 
till in the end they had only the mountains left to live in; 
and there they have lived ever since. The country they 
live in is now called Wales. 

In a hundred years after the landing of Hengist and 
Horsa, the Angles, or English, were masters of Britain, 
and it has been called Angleland, or England, from that 
day to this. 


VI 


HOW THE ENGLISH BECAME CHRISTIANS 
About Six Hundred Years after the Birth of Christ 

When the English first settled in England they were 
still heathen. They used to worship the sun and the moon, 
the sea, springs and trees, and other pagan gods. 

One of the gods was Thor, the thunder god, whose ham¬ 
mer they thought they heard in the thunderclap. Another 
was Woden, the great god of war, who, they said, was the 
father of their kings. The English named the days of the 
week after their gods. Thus Sunday meant the Sun’s day, 
Monday the Moon’s day, Wednesday was Woden’s day, 
and Thursday was Thor’s day. 

It was a strange, wild, warlike sort of faith. They 
thought that only those who died in battle would be happy 
forever with the gods, and that in heaven they would hunt 
or fight all day and have as much boar’s flesh and ale as 
they could eat and drink. When a chief died they buried 
him in full armor and laid his sword and his spear beside 
him. They also slew his favorite horse and his dog and 
placed their bodies near his, believing that they would be 
of use to him in the other world. 


21 


22 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


One thing that the Saxons loved above all others was 
freedom. They did not give their chiefs very great power. 
No chief or king could make a new law. They loved jus¬ 
tice, and they set each man to watch every other, so that 
he should do no wrong. If anyone who did wrong ran 
away to another town, all the people in each town had 
to pay a fine. 

In the place of this worship of pagan gods was slowly 
to come the gospel that told these fierce warriors of peace 
and good will to all mankind. The mountains, the rivers, 
and ancient oaks were soon to echo the worship of the true 
God and not to remain the objects of idolatry. I will now 
tell you of an incident that paved the way for this change. 

Though the Saxons loved freedom for themselves, we 
are sorry to say that like most other people of their time 
they had many slaves. When a Saxon noble had more 
people on his land than he needed, or more slaves than he 
could find food for, he would take some of the boys and 
girls and sell them as slaves to the people of other countries. 

In this way English boys and girls were sent even as far 
as Rome to be sold as slaves. When they reached the Im¬ 
perial City they were taken to the slave market and offered 
for sale. Trembling and frightened the captive children 
stood, feeling as we should feel if we found ourselves in a 
strange place with no one to care for us and not know¬ 
ing one word of the language the people around us were 
speaking. 



KIND-HEARTED GREGORY IS MOVED TO PITY FOR THE 
ENGLISH SLAVE BOYS 




































24 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


One day some English boys who had been carried off 
as slaves were standing in the market place at Rome, wait¬ 
ing for someone to buy them, when a kind-hearted monk 
named Gregory came walking by. When he saw their 
sweet, fair faces, their blue eyes, and their golden hair, his 
heart was moved with pity for the children. He asked a 
keen-eyed merchant of what nation they were. 

The merchant answered, "They are Angles.” 

"They should be angels,” said Gregory, "for they have 
the faces of angels.” Then he asked what country they 
came from. When they told him, he said, "The praises of 
God shall some day be sung in that land.” 

Years went on, and the good monk became the Pope 
and lived in Rome; but he did not forget the poor slave 
children. When he heard that an English king of Kent had 
married a Christian princess named Bertha, he sent a monk 
named Augustine, with forty other monks, to preach the 
gospel to the English. When the monks landed in Kent 
they sent word to the king, telling him why they had come. 

King Ethelbert said he would hear what they had to 
say, but he dared not let them into his house for fear they 
might bewitch him. So he sat on his throne under an oak 
tree; and the monks, marching two by two over the green 
fields, bearing a silver cross and a banner of the Saviour, 
came before him, singing as they came. 

When Ethelbert had heard all they had to say about 
the true God, he said to them: "Your words and promises 


HOW THE ENGLISH BECAME CHRISTIANS 25 

seem fair, but they are new and strange to me, and I cannot 
at once give up the gods of my fathers. But you may stay 
in this land, and I will give you food and shelter; and if 
any man will believe as you believe, I will let him.” He 
gave them his own house to live in and also a church near 
it, which had been built in the time of the Romans. 

So the monks stayed in Kent and preached the gospel; 
and after a time King Ethelbert and many of his people be¬ 
came Christians. From Kent the faith spread and spread, 
until one hundred years after the landing of Augustine all 
England had become Christian. So the worship of Thor 
and Woden passed away; and the little "angels” in the 
market place of Rome thus became the messengers of a 
higher and nobler faith. 

We must remember, however, that many years before 
the time of Augustine, soldiers and merchants who came 
from the Continent began to introduce Christianity into 
Britain. Scarcely anything is known of its progress in the 
island. There is no doubt that in different parts of the 
country rude churches were built and other sacred struc¬ 
tures were erected in which the people kept up a regular 
worship. It was not until the time of Augustine, however, 
that Christianity really gained a foothold in England. 


VII 


HOW THE OLD ENGLISH PEOPLE LIVED 

About the Time of King Alfred 

How did England look during old English times ? How 
did the people live? Let me tell you. The greater part 
of the country was still covered with forests, and only a 
very small part of the land was under cultivation. It seems 
that enough barley and wheat were grown to meet the 
wants of the people. The forests still swarmed with wild 
animals, such as the wolf, deer, fox, hare, and rabbit. 

At the head of the old English people stood the king. 
In early times he did not have much power, but as the 
various tribes became united and formed one nation the 
power of the king began to increase. 

To keep the king in proper state great tracts of land 
were given to him, and he had certain rights in the forests, 
woods, and mines. Wherever he traveled he and his serv¬ 
ants had food and shelter free. 

When a king was crowned, all the people above twelve 
years of age took an oath to be obedient to him. The king 
in turn took an oath that he would treat all his subjects, 
whatever their condition, with kindness and justice. 

26 


HOW THE OLD ENGLISH PEOPLE LIVED 27 

The people were divided into two great classes, freemen 
and slaves. The freemen were divided into two kinds. 
The first were men of the highest rank. They were either 
descended from princes, or had great property, or had done 
great service to the king. These nobles, when not at war 
with each other, spent their time in hunting and hawking. 

The second class of freemen were the men who culti¬ 
vated the land or who worked at trades in the towns. 
They generally lived on the lands of some lord, a man of 
the first class. From these lands they could not remove, 
nor could they be turned away so long as they paid rent. 

The lowest division of the English people were slaves. 
They belonged entirely to their masters, just as a horse or 
a cow does at the present day. The master of a slave could 
kill him if he liked, and there was no one to call him to 
account. If a slave ran away, he could be chased like a 
wild beast; if caught, he could be flogged to death. If a 
woman slave ran away, she might be burned to death. 

Sometimes a kindly master would give his slaves their 
freedom, or if a slave could earn money enough he might 
buy his freedom. Thus King Alfred, just before he died, 
ordered that all his slaves should be set free. 

The English slaves had to watch the sheep and cattle 
and look after the large herds of swine that were kept in 
the forests to feed on beechnuts and acorns. 

Large numbers of sheep were raised, and the country 
exported much wool. The chief crops were wheat, barley, 


28 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


rye, and oats. Orchards were abundant, and great num¬ 
bers of beehives were kept. A drink known as mead was 
made from honey. 

The principal food of the poor was bacon and barley 
bread. The rich ate wheaten bread. Fish was also largely 
eaten. From the fens, or marshy pools, were taken an 
immense number of eels. Salmon were plentiful in the 
rivers, while on the seacoast herring were taken in large 
quantities. 

In the houses of the great men was a large room or hall, 
with a long table in the center. At the end of the hall was 
a raised platform on which there was another table. At 
this table sat the lord and his family, while the servants 
sat at the lower table according to their rank. 

The old English people had knives, but no forks. Joints 
of meat were handed round on spits, or iron rods, on which 
the meat was supported over the fire to roast. Each person 
carved for himself. The bones were tossed on the floor 
to the dogs. 

The men were not only great eaters but great drinkers. 
In very early English times the tables in the halls were re¬ 
moved at night, and the men slept on the floor. Later on, 
however, beds were used. These were sacks filled with 
straw or other soft materials. 

The houses of the poor were built of mud and thatched 
with straw; stonework was used only in the building of 
castles and churches. 


HOW THE OLD ENGLISH PEOPLE LIVED 29 

The men wore a shirt and a kind of frock which came 
down to the knee. This was probably the origin of the 
smock frock, still worn in some of the country districts of 
England. They had long stockings fitting rather tight to 
the legs, leather shoes, and a belt around the waist. Their 
hair was long, and they had long beards and mustaches. 
The women wore long, loose garments which reached to the 
ground. Men and women wore necklaces, bracelets, and 
rings. The women of rank were very clever at needlework 
and were also skilled in spinning and weaving wool. 


VIII 


HOW KING ALFRED RULED ENGLAND 

Born 849 , died 901. Reigned Thirty Years 

I must tell you now of the good King Alfred, the wisest, 
the bravest, and the best of all the English kings. I am 
sure you will like to read about him, for his goodness, 
wisdom, and bravery earned for him the name of Great. 
In English history he is always known as King Alfred 
the Great. 

There is a story about Alfred’s mother which you will 
like to know. The little prince was taught to hunt and 
ride and shoot with bow and arrows before he was 
taught to read. But his mother used to read to him the 
old English songs which told of the brave deeds of his 
forefathers, and Alfred loved to sit at her feet and listen 
to them. 

An old writer tells us that the queen had a book of 
songs with beautiful pictures in it and letters richly painted 
in gold. One day, calling her three boys to her, she said, 
"I will give this pretty book to the one who can read it 
first.” "Will you indeed, mother?” said Alfred, who was 
the youngest. "Yes, dear boy, I will,” said the queen. 

30 


HOW KING ALFRED RULED ENGLAND 31 

Then Alfred went at once and found a master, and sat 
down to study the book day after day, until he could read 
it through. So he won it as his prize, and was proud of it 
all his life. 

Alfred was a young man twenty-three years old when 
he came to the throne. Hard days were in store for the 
young king. 

Fierce bands of sea robbers called Danes, or Northmen, 
had for many years been making war upon the English. 
They came from Denmark, Norway, and the countries 
close by. They belonged to the same race as the Angles 
and Saxons and spoke almost the same language. They 
were strong, brave, and venturesome and loved to sail over 
the seas in their long black ships. They laughed at the 
wind and the storm, and boastfully called themselves sea 
kings, because they thought they were masters of the 
mighty deep. 

At first when they came, these fierce sea rovers used to 
land on some lonely coast or sail up some quiet river, steal 
grain and cattle, and go away. But after a time they came 
in swarms, drove the people from their homes, and took 
their lands and settled on them. 

When Alfred became king the Danes had settled in the 
north and east of England and were trying to conquer the 
whole kingdom. So the young king had to fight them. For 
some years he kept them in check and beat them in many 
a battle. 


32 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


One night when the English were feasting, the Danes 
burst in upon them and slew a great many. King Alfred 
with a little band fled for safety to a lonely spot, and there 
among marshes and woods he hid himself till he could 
muster an army to lead against the Danes. He was almost 
in despair. He wandered about the woods, and agreed to 
work for a peasant if he would give him food and a bed 
of straw. 

One day, so the story runs, the cotter’s wife, leaving the 
hut, told the king to watch and turn the cakes which were 
baking on the hearth. Alfred sat down beside the fire, 
mending his bow and sharpening his arrows. All the 
time he was thinking and planning how he could free his 
country from the Danes. He would beat them yet he 
felt certain. 

While he was thus talking to himself, the good woman 
came back and stood beside him. "What have you done 
with my cakes?” she cried angrily. "Every one of them 
is burned. You’d have been glad enough to eat them.” 
Alfred smiled and begged her pardon. The woman little 
thought that her careless servant was her king. 

One day as King Alfred was in a shepherd’s cot, think¬ 
ing how he could overcome the Danes, one of his trusty 
spies came running to him with good news. Some of the 
Danes had been beaten back in trying to land on the west 
coast, and their black raven-flag had been taken by the 
English. This was good news indeed. 


HOW KING ALFRED RULED ENGLAND 33 


The raven flag, I must tell you, was a famous banner 
that had been woven by the daughter of a great Danish 
sea king. It was thought to have magic power. The Danes 
said they could tell by the way the raven held its wings 
whether they were to win or lose a battle. So you may be 
sure that the Danes were downhearted when their raven 
banner was lost, but the English were in high spirits and 
felt sure that better days were coming. 

King Alfred now came out from his hiding-place. He 
was very cheerful and full of hope. He felt that this was 
the time to strike a blow at the Danes. He dressed himself 
as a minstrel, took his harp with him, and stole by night 
into the Danish camp. He could play well upon the harp, 
and the Danish king and his soldiers were much pleased 
with him, and urged him to play for them while they drank 
and sang and made merry. 

All the time Alfred kept his eyes and ears open. He 
strolled about the camp for two or three days, counting the 
Danish soldiers and seeing what were their strong points 
and what were their weak ones. When he had learned all 
that he wished he stole back to his hiding-place and sent 
word to all the men of the west to meet him on a certain 
day in the forest. Then he led them against the Danes, 
and there was a great battle fought. The Danes were 
badly beaten and had to beg for peace. 

King Alfred granted them peace on these terms: they 
were to march out of the west country and settle down 


34 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


quietly in the east, become Christians, and live as English 
subjects. The Danes accepted these terms. The Danish 
king was baptized, and King Alfred was his god-father. 
The Danish king always looked up to King Alfred as his 
master, and was a good friend to him ever after. 

King Alfred now took steps to make his kingdom strong 
and happy. He built stone forts and castles. He also took 
care to see that all his fighting men were well drilled and 
ready at any time to turn out at the call of danger. He 
made warships of such size and speed that the roving 
Danes would not dare to meet them in battle. Thus Eng¬ 
land was made safe and strong on land and on sea. Alfred 
was the first English king who defeated the dreaded Danes 
at sea. 

King Alfred, having made his kingdom peaceful, then 
tried to make his people happy by framing good and just 
laws. He took every care that his judges should rightly 
carry them out and do all in their power to protect the 
poor. All who stole or did wrong were punished severely. 

King Alfred built schools and hired learned men from 
other countries to come over and teach in them. He him¬ 
self even taught in the schools, and he turned many of the 
old Latin books into English so that his people could read 
them easily. 

Alfred let no man be idle, and was never idle himself. 
He set himself a task for every hour of the day. As there 
were no clocks then, he used to mark his time by the 


HOW KING ALFRED RULED ENGLAND 35 


burning of candles. He had them all made of the same 
size so that they would burn for four hours. He put these 
into lanterns made of thin horn, for the art of making glass 
had been forgotten. As he burned six of them every day, 
he could always tell pretty nearly what time it was. 

This great and good king did not live to be a very old 
man. He died in the year 901, after a glorious and most 
useful reign of nearly thirty years. He suffered during 
nearly all his life from an ailment which caused him severe 
pain, but still he went bravely on, working for his people. 
It has been more than a thousand years since he died, 
yet the name of Alfred the Great is as dear to the Eng¬ 
lish people as if he had died but yesterday. He fully de¬ 
serves the titles given him by the old writers, who speak 
of him as "the wisest man of his time, and the darling of 
the English people.” 


Reading-Note 

Selections from Henty’s "The Dragon and the Raven, or The Days 
of King Alfred.” 

Selections from Eva March Tappan’s "In the Days of Alfred 
the Great.” 

Jacob Abbott’s "Life of Alfred the Great.” One of the Red His¬ 
tory Series. 


IX 


HOW A DANE CAME TO BE KING OF ENGLAND 

Ethelred reigned from gyg to 1016 

A hundred years had come and gone since the days of 
the good King Alfred, and there sat on the throne of Eng¬ 
land a king named Ethelred. Now Ethelred was a poor, 
weak, good-for-nothing king. He was always doing the 
wrong thing at the wrong time. When the right time came 
he was never ready, and so men gave him the nickname of 
Ethelred the Unready. 

In his day, as in the days of King Alfred, Danish pirates 
came sailing over the sea and made war upon the English. 
They set fire to villages along the coast, they robbed the 
churches and abbeys, they stole from the farmers their 
wheat and cattle, and they carried away and sold as slaves 
those who resisted them. 

I am sorry to say that Ethelred was a bit of a coward. 
Instead of fighting the Danes as King Alfred had done, he 
gave them money to go away. But you may be sure they 
soon came back again; and every time they came the king 
had to give them more money to get rid of them, for he was 
never ready to offer them battle. 

3 6 


A DANE KING OF ENGLAND 


37 


At last Ethelred made up his mind to do a cruel and 
terrible deed, the like of which was never done on English 
soil before or since. You know already that at one time or 
another a great many Danes had settled in England. Some 
were hardy fishermen, some were quiet farmers, others 
were busy tradesmen; and most of them were honest, hard¬ 
working, harmless people. 

Now King Ethelred sent word in secret that the English 
on a certain day were to rise up and murder these Danes. 
When the day came every Dane who could be found, 
young and old, soldiers and babies, men and women, was 
put to the sword. 

Among those who fell was a fair and noble lady named 
Gunhild. Though she was own sister to Sweyn, king of 
Denmark, her noble birth did not save her. She saw her 
dear husband and her darling boy dragged out and slain 
before her eyes. She told her murderers with her dying 
lips that her brother of Denmark would avenge her death. 
And so he did. 

When the news flew to Denmark that Gunhild had been 
slain, King Sweyn "of the forked beard” swore to pluck 
the crown from the brow of Ethelred. He raised an army 
and a mightier fleet of ships than ever yet had sailed to 
England. In his army there was not a slave or an old man, 
but every soldier was a free man and the son of a free man 
and was in the prime of life. They had sworn to be avenged 
upon the English people for this cruel deed. 


38 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


So the sea kings came to England in their great ships, 
each flying the flag of its captain. The ship of King Sweyn 
was long and shaped somewhat like a serpent, and was 
called the Great Dragon. On the prows of the ships were 
flags bearing golden eagles, ravens, dragons, dolphins, and 
beasts of prey which seemed to threaten England as the 
ships came on through the water and threw their grim 
shadows on the waves. 

For three years the Danes carried fire and sword from 
one end of the land to the other; their path could be traced 
by ruined churches, burned villages, and all the horrors of 
a bloody war. 

There was but one man of note in these wretched times 
who was true to his country and to the feeble king. He 
was a priest, and a brave one. For twenty years the Arch¬ 
bishop of Canterbury defended his city against the Danes. 

At last, when a traitor in the town threw the gates open 
and admitted the enemy, he said: "I will not buy my life 
with money that must be wrested from the suffering people. 
Do with me what you please.” 

Again and again he steadily refused to buy his release 
with gold wrung from the poor. After a time the Danes 
lost all patience, and having met together for a merry¬ 
making, had him brought into the feasting-hall. "Now, 
Bishop,” they said, "we want gold.” 

The Archbishop looked about on the crowd of angry 
faces, from the shaggy beards close to him to the shaggy 


A DANE KING OF ENGLAND 


39 


beards against the walls, where men stood on tables to see 
him over the heads of the others, and he knew that his 
time was come. 

"I have no gold.” 

"Get it, Bishop,” they thundered. 

"That, I have often told you, I will not.” 

They crowded round him, threatening violence, but the 
brave priest stood unmoved. Then one man struck him; 
then another; at last a cruel soldier killed the noble old 
man with his battle-ax. 

Now Sweyn had a son, a famous warrior, named Canute; 
and Ethelred too had a son, so hardy and brave that they 
called him Edmund Ironside. Ethelred by this time had 
fled across the seas, leaving Canute and Ironside to fight 
for the kingdom. It was a hard fight; the men of the east 
sided with Ironside, and the men of the west with Canute. 

At last Ironside, who was a big man, proposed to Canute, 
who was a little man, that they should fight in single com¬ 
bat. If Canute had been the big man, he would probably 
have said "Yes,” but being a little man, he said decidedly 
"No.” However, he said he was willing to share the king¬ 
dom with Ironside. This division was made, as they were 
both tired of so much bloodshed and were glad to settle 
down and live in peace. 


X 


KING CANUTE, THE DANE 
Canute reigned from 1016 to 1035 

Not long after the fierce contest we have just read 
about, King Edmund died. Canute alone ruled the land. 
He was a cruel king, and used to say to his fighting men, 
"He who brings me the head of an enemy shall be dearer 
to me than a brother.” He was so severe in hunting down 
his enemies that he must have had a pretty large family of 
these dear brothers. 

After the land was at peace Canute treated his people 
more kindly and made wise and just laws. In fact, the 
people were better off under their Danish king than they 
would have been under an Englishman like themselves. 
They learned to like him so much that they willingly fol¬ 
lowed him in his foreign wars, and with their help he made 
himself master of Norway and Sweden. He thus became 
a very powerful monarch, ruling over four countries, Den¬ 
mark, Norway, Sweden, and England. 

But as Canute grew older he felt sorry for having shed 
so much blood and wasted so much land, so he made up 
his mind to go to Rome and ask for pardon. To show his 

40 


KING CANUTE, THE DANE 


4i 


sorrow he went on foot all the way, with a staff in his hand 
and a pack on his back. 

When he returned his friends were very fond of flatter¬ 
ing him and of telling him how great a king he was. Once 
one of them said, "You are the king of kings and the lord 
of the sea as well as of the land.” Canute said nothing 
at the time. 

One day as he was walking by the seashore and his 
friends were talking in this way, he ordered a chair to be 
brought and placed at the edge of the waves at the time 
when the tide was rising. The king took his seat in the 
chair, while his courtiers stood round; and he said to the 
waves: "The land on which I sit belongs to me; and as for 
you, O waves, I am your lord and master also. I command 
you, therefore, to come no nearer, nor dare to wet my feet.” 

But the tide, heeding not, came dashing on, and in a 
little while had washed over the feet of Canute and his 
nobles. Then Canute turned to these foolish flatterers and 
said: "You now see that I am not master of the waves. 
Learn then, that the power of kings is as nothing to the 
power of God. He alone rules in heaven, in earth, and 
on the sea.” 

The courtiers hung their heads, looked foolish, and 
said nothing. From that day, it is said, Canute wore his 
crown no more. We can almost see them all on the sea¬ 
shore together, the king in good humor with his own 
wisdom, and the courtiers quite overcome by it. 


42 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


King Canute built up the churches and abbeys which 
his fathers had burned. He was fond of making visits to 
the holy places. Of all the abbeys which the king raised 
up he loved none so well as Ely, and he often went there 
on the great feast days of the year. As the abbey of Ely 
stood on an island amid the marshes, the king could get 
there only by water. 

One evening as he was rowed to the abbey, the chant of 
the monks, singing their evening hymn, floated sweetly 
over the quiet waters. As it fell upon the king’s ears his 
heart was so glad that he began to sing. He made the 
song himself, and this is how it ran: 

Merry the monks of Ely sing 
As by them rows Canute the king; 

Row, men, to the land more near, 

That we these good monks’ songs may hear. 

Other verses followed, and were often sung in after years 
by the monks of Ely, who told with pride of the many gifts 
which the king had given them in memory of that day. 

Another time it was winter when the king and his men 
set out for Ely. The water was frozen, but no one was 
sure that the ice would bear. While the king and those 
with him stood in doubt, up came a young fellow who was 
so fat that the people near Ely called him Pudding. 

"Are you afraid to cross? ” said Pudding. "Let me go 
before the king.” 



KING CANUTE REBUKES HIS COURTIERS 































































































44 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


"Do,” said the king, "and I will follow you. You are a 
big and heavy man; I am small and light. What will bear 
you will surely bear me.” 

Thus Pudding crossed over first. The king gave him a 
good slice of land for his pains. 

Canute liked to be flattered. A poor poet had made a 
song in his praise, but it was very short. Because it was 
so short the king could hardly be kept from putting the 
poet to death. 

The Danish king was fond of hunting and wanted to 
have for himself all the hunting in the land. He accordingly 
had laws made which kept other men from killing the wild 
animals. Such laws are called game laws or forest laws. 
In Canute’s time if any free Englishman killed a deer, he 
was put in prison; if a serf or slave did so, he was put 
to death. 

After the death of Canute two of his sons sat in turn 
on the English throne, but they ruled so badly that the 
English people wished to have one of the sons of Ethelred 
for their king. 

Reading-Note 

Some of the stories in this book, so far as historical accuracy is 
concerned, rest upon slender foundations. It is a curious fact that one 
of the best-authenticated stories—the well-known story of King 
Canute and the rising tide—is one of the least probable. Again, the 
story of Queen Philippa (XVIII) and her intercession for the citizens 
of Calais is given in detail by Froissart, who was a boy at the time; 
and yet there is good reason to doubt its truth. 


XI 


THE STORY OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST 

In the Year 1066 

We have told you how Canute, the Dane, became king 
of England. His sons too were kings of England; but 
when they died the crown came back to Ethelred’s son, 
King Edward the Good. 

As King Edward had no children, at his death the wise 
men of the nation had to choose a king. They chose Earl 
Harold, the wisest and bravest man in all the land, and 
made him their king. 

But there was another man who wanted to be king. 
This was William, duke of Normandy, or, as we now call 
him, William the Conqueror. He was a great and brave 
man who had come of a noble race of sea kings. These 
were the Normans, or Northmen. They were kinsmen of 
the Danes and Angles. They too had been fierce pirates, 
but they had at last settled down in the north of France 
and had come to be the bravest men in all the world. 

Duke William, as we have told you, had set his heart 
on the crown of England. He said that King Edward, who 
was a cousin of his, had told him that he would leave it to 

45 


46 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


him, and that Harold himself had sworn to help him to the 
throne. So when he heard that Harold was made king 
he was very angry and raised a great army to come and 
conquer England. 

When King Harold heard what William was going to 
do, he kept his ships sailing up and down the channel and 
set his soldiers to guard the south coast, where he thought 
the Normans would land. 

But while Harold was at Hastings waiting for Duke Wil¬ 
liam to come, bad news came from the north. His wicked 
brother Tostig, who had been driven from the country, 
had come back to make war upon him. As soon as 
Harold heard it he set out for Yorkshire with all the 
troops he could muster, and marched day and night till 
he came to his brother. In a great battle that was fought 
he beat him. 

King Harold gave a feast at York in honor of the vic¬ 
tory. While they sat at the table a man rushed in, splashed 
with mud and tired with long riding, and told the king that 
the Normans had landed in England. 

"It is bad news,” said King Harold. "Had I been there, 
they would not have set foot on land; but I could not be 
there and here too.” 

He broke up the feast at once and, telling his soldiers 
to hurry after him, set off for London as fast as he could 
go. Within a week his army was ready. 


THE STORY OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST 47 

The bad news was bad indeed. The whole Norman 
force, hopeful and strong on English ground, was encamped 
near Hastings. 

But they had not landed without great difficulty. They 
had been tossed about by contrary winds, and some of their 
ships had been wrecked. A part of their own shore, to 
which they had been driven back, was strewn with Norman 
bodies. But they had once more set sail, led by the duke’s 
own galley, on the prow of which the figure of a golden boy 
stood pointing toward England. By day the banner of the 
three lions of Normandy, the diverse-colored sails, the 
gilded vanes, the many decorations of this gorgeous ship, 
glistened in the sun; by night a light sparkled like a star 
at her masthead. 

There is an old story that when the Norman duke first 
stepped on English soil he stumbled and fell. Then a great 
cry arose from his men, for they said, "This is an evil sign; 
as our leader hath fallen, so will our cause fail.” But Wil¬ 
liam, with his ready wit, turned his mishap to good account. 
"See,” he called out, as he arose with his hands full of 
English soil, "see, I have taken a grip of this land with 
both of my hands.” His followers laughed and were in 
good spirits once more. 

On a bright October morning in the year 1066 the Eng¬ 
lish and Norman armies stood face to face on the fields 
near Hastings. Harold’s troops stood on the slope of a hill, 


48 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


every man on foot. In front of them they had driven into 
the ground stakes and branches of trees, and had set up 
their shields against them like a wall. 

The men of Kent and the king’s own guards were in the 
front line. Over them floated the royal flag, upon which 
was woven in gold the image of an English soldier fighting 
bravely. 

Under this flag Harold took his place on foot, and there 
also stood the warriors who fought so well against Tostig. 
These men wore coats upon which were sewed rings of 
iron, and their heads were covered with helmets shaped 
like a cone, having a piece in front to protect the nose. 
They were armed with heavy battle-axes, swords, and 
darts, and carried on their left arms kite-shaped shields. 

The rest of the English were armed with whatever 
weapons they could find. Some had nothing better than 
clubs, iron-pointed stakes, stone hammers, pitchforks, and 
such rude weapons, but one and all had stout hearts. 

"Stand fast, my men,” said King Harold, "and ply your 
battle-axes well. If you break your ranks we are lost.” 

It was about nine o’clock on a Saturday morning when 
the Norman archers began the battle. Their arrows flew 
like rain before the wind. But the English, behind their 
wall of shields, cared no more for their arrows than they 
would have cared for a shower of rain. 

The Norman foot soldiers with their long pikes came 
next, but they went back down the hill faster than they 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR AND THE NORMANS INVADE ENGLAND 































50 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


came up. Then the Norman horsemen in steel armor rode 
up and dashed furiously upon the English. But Harold 
and his brave troops stood as firm as a rock, and horses and 
men fell thick and fast under the stroke of their deadly 
battle-axes. 

The Normans turned and fled. The word went round 
that the duke was slain, and the Normans began to give 
way all along their line. But the next moment William was 
seen driving back the troops, and calling out to them as he 
drew up his helmet, "Look! I am alive, and by God’s help 
I will still conquer.” 

From nine in the morning till sunset the fight went on. 
Again and again the Normans rushed up the slope of the 
hill, and again and again were they driven back. Thus 
throughout the day the battle went against the Normans. 
Duke William fought in the thick of the fight, as brave as 
a lion. Two horses were killed under him. He felt that 
unless he could draw the English away from their place 
on the hill, the battle was lost. So he ordered his horsemen 
to pretend to retreat. 

When the English saw this they rushed down the slope 
in pursuit, forgetting Harold’s command to keep behind 
their defenses. Then the Norman horsemen turned sud¬ 
denly round and fell upon them with great slaughter. Up 
the hill and through the fences they rode, and dashed 
among the English host. Harold and his chosen band 
fought fiercely around their standard. 


THE STORY OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST 51 

Twilight was fast drawing nigh when Duke William 
turned and said to his archers, " Shoot your arrows high up 
into the air, that they may fall upon the faces of the Eng¬ 
lish/’ They did so. An arrow struck the English king in 
the eye, and he fell dead. This was the turning point of 
the battle. The English fled and left the Normans masters 
of the field. 

In this way ended one of the greatest battles ever fought 
on English ground. Thus the rule of the old English kings 
came to an end, and a Norman wore the crown of England. 

Reading-Note 

Selections from Henty’s "Wulf the Saxon.” A story of the Nor¬ 
man conquest. 

Jacob Abbott’s "Life of William the Conqueror.” One of the Red 
History Series. 


XII 


THE DEATH OF THE RED KING 

In the Year noo 

William Rufus, or William the Second, was the son of 
William the Conqueror. Rufus is a Latin word which 
means "red.” People gave the king this nickname because 
he had red hair and a ruddy face. He was neither a good 
king nor a good man. He was hard and cruel to all his 
subjects and very harsh to the poor. 

When in traveling about this wicked king and his friends 
came to a farmhouse, they would make the farmer kill his 
cow or his sheep or his pig, and would have it roasted at the 
fire and would eat it all. They would then drink the poor 
man’s ale, and if there was any left, they would wash their 
horses’ feet with it. After sleeping in the farmer’s house 
all night, they would, out of sheer cruelty, set fire to it in 
the morning. 

Both Rufus and his father were very fond of hunting. 
His father had driven out the farmers and laborers from 
their homes throughout a wide tract of land in the south 
of England, wasted the gardens and the fields of wheat, 
and left the land free for deer and wild boars to roam 


52 


THE DEATH OF THE RED KING 53 

about in. This tract of land was, and still is, called the 
New Forest. 

The poor people whose homes had been laid waste be¬ 
lieved that this forest was enchanted. They said that in 
thunderstorms and on dark nights demons appeared, mov¬ 
ing beneath the branches of the gloomy trees. They said 
that a terrible specter had foretold to Norman hunters 
that the Red King should be punished there. It was a 
lonely forest, accursed in the people’s hearts for the wicked 
deeds that had been done to make it, and no man liked 
to stray there. 

But in reality it was like any other forest. There were 
hillsides covered with rich fern, on which the morning dew 
sparkled beautifully; there were brooks where the deer 
went down to drink, or over which the whole herd bounded, 
flying from the arrows of the hunters; there were sunny 
glades and gloomy places where but little light came 
through the leaves. 

The songs of the birds in the £>Tew Forest were pleasanter 
to hear than the shouts of fighting men outside; and even 
when the Red King and his court came hunting through its 
thick woods, cursing loud and riding hard, with a jingle 
of stirrups and bridles and knives and daggers, they did 
much less harm there than among the poor people. 

One bright day in July the Red King rose early in the 
morning to hunt in the New Forest. He was told it was a 
saint’s day. "What care I?” he said. "The better the 


54 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


day, the better the deed.” One of the hunting party had 
had a fearful dream and warned the king not to go. 
"What!” he cried, "do you take me for an Englishman, 
with your dreams ? Get the horses ready, and let us be off.” 

As they were about to start, an arrow-maker brought 
the king a bundle of new arrows well made and fully a yard 
long. The king was so delighted that he bought the whole 
of them and gave them to Sir Walter Tyrrel, one of his 
friends. "There,” he said, "you are a capital marksman. 
You will shoot well with these, I am sure.” He and his 
friends now galloped off into the woods to hunt the red deer. 

By and by the party scattered, and the king was left 
with only one companion, Sir Walter Tyrrel. Soon the 
king caught sight, through the underwood, of the branch¬ 
ing horns of a tall stag. An oak stood between him and 
the stag. He shouted to Tyrrel to draw. 

The knight drew his bow. The arrow struck the trunk 
of the oak, glanced off, and pierced the breast of the king, 
who fell dead from his horse. The knight had shot too 
well, and the arrows the king had given him were too good. 

Tyrrel galloped off at once to the coast and escaped in 
a vessel to France. 

That evening a charcoal burner of the New Forest came 
upon the body of a man lying in a pool of blood. It was 
the Red King. He put the dead body on his rough and 
grimy cart and carried it to Winchester, where it was buried 
in the cathedral without funeral rites or weeping eyes. 



THE DEATH OF THE RED KING 

























56 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


After a few years the tower above the wicked king’s tomb 
fell in, and the people said it was because so foul a body 
lay beneath it. Whether Tyrrel killed the king on pur¬ 
pose, or whether the arrow struck him by accident, nobody 
knows. At any rate, Sir Walter fled from the country. 

Many of the poor people had been turned out of house 
and home for the sake of the king’s sport. It was said that 
one of them had lain in wait for the Red King and had 
taken this fearful revenge. But no one will ever know for 
certain how the death of this bold, bad king came about. 

William Rufus was the third member of the Conqueror’s 
family who was killed in the New Forest. No wonder then 
that the people of those days thought the great hunting 
ground a doomed spot for the royal family. 

Reading-Note 

In connection with this chapter, the teacher may read to the pupils 
selections from Captain Marryat’s delightful juvenile called "The 
Children of the New Forest.” 




XIII 

THE LOSS OF THE WHITE SHIP 
In the Year 1120 

Henry, the youngest son of the Conqueror, was in his 
turn made king of England. As he was the first king of 
that name, he was called Henry the First. He was also 
known as the "Fine Scholar,’ 7 because, unlike most princes 
of those times, he could read and write. But though clever, 
he was a bold and cunning man. He cared very little for his 
word, and took any means to gain his ends. 

Now we must not forget that we are reading about the 
Norman kings who had won the throne from the English 
royal family. They had come from France, where they had 
large estates of their own. The Norman kings often crossed 
the Channel to look after these lands. Sometimes they 
stayed there for weeks and even months at a time. While 
Henry was king of England, he spent four years in France. 
Henry had an only son, Prince William, whom he loved 
very much. When the prince was eighteen years old he took 
him to Normandy and made him duke over the Normans. 

When the king and his son came to the coast to take 
ship again to England, up came a sea captain named Fitz- 

57 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


58 

Stephen, and said to the king: "My father, O king, was the 
captain of the good ship that bore your father over the sea 
to the conquest of England. I also have a fine vessel, named 
the White Ship , rowed by fifty sturdy sailors. There she 
is, rocking in the bay, ready to put to sea. Let me, I pray 
you, steer you to England, as my father steered your father 
in the days gone by.” 

"I am sorry,” said the king, "that I cannot take your 
offer, for I have already chosen my vessel; but my son, the 
young prince, shall sail with you in the White Ship , and 
you shall follow me to England.” 

The king’s ship set sail; and Prince William and his 
half-sister, with a company of knights and ladies, went 
on board the White Ship. The young prince called Fitz- 
Stephen to him and said: "Bring out wine, and give it to 
the fifty bold rowers who are to row us across the sea. Bid 
them drink and be merry, for we shall not start till mid¬ 
night.” The rowers drank the wine, and the prince, with 
the knights and ladies, danced on deck by the light of the 
full moon. 

At last they lifted the anchor and hoisted the square sail. 
The fifty bold rowers sat down to their oars, and the White 
Ship sped merrily over the moonlit sea. But there was 
not a sober sailor on board. Fitz-Stephen had the helm. 
The gay young nobles and the beautiful ladies, wrapped in 
mantles of various bright colors to protect them from the 
cold, talked, laughed, and sang. The prince encouraged the 





THE LOSS OF THE WHITE SHIP 


59 

fifty sailors to row harder yet for the honor of the White 
Ship. On she went like an arrow. 

But suddenly there was a fearful crash. A terrific cry 
broke from three hundred hearts. It was the cry which 
the people in the distant vessel of the king heard faintly on 
the water. The White Ship had struck a rock and was 
sinking. What was to be done ? A cry of despair rose from 
the gay lords and lovely ladies on board the ill-fated vessel. 

Fitz-Stephen hurried the prince into a boat with some 
few nobles. "Push off,” he whispered, "and row to the 
land. It is not far, and the sea is smooth. The rest of 
us must die.” 

But as they rowed away from the sinking ship the prince 
heard the voice of his half-sister Marie calling to him from 
the ship. "Stop, men,” he cried. "Row back to the ship. 
I cannot leave my sister to perish.” So back they rowed 
and drew near to the ship; but so many then leaped into 
the boat that it sank under the heavy load. At the same 
instant the White Ship itself went down. 

There were two men who held on to a broken mast. 
One of them, who had on a warm sheepskin coat, was a 
butcher called Berthold; the other was a young noble 
named Godfrey. As they drifted with the tide on that 
cold December night, they saw another man come swim¬ 
ming toward them. When they caught sight of his long 
hair and heard him speak, they knew him to be Fitz- 
Stephen. 


6o 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


"What has become of the prince?’ 7 asked the captain. 

"He is drowned/’ said the men, "and his sister also, 
and all who were with them in the boat.” 

"Oh, woe is me!” cried the captain. Throwing up his 
arms, he sank under the waves. 

The two men clung to the mast for some hours, but 
at last the young noble said: "I feel weak and faint. My 
hands have grown as cold as ice, and I cannot hold on 
any longer.” As he let go his grip, he called out to the 
butcher, "Good-by, friend, and God keep you safe.” 

In the gray of the morning the people on shore saw the 
poor butcher, with his arm round the broken spar, and 
they put out a boat and brought him safe to land. He was 
the only one left to tell the sad tale of the White Ship. 

For three days no one dared to tell the king of his great 
loss. But at last a little boy was sent in to him. On his 
knees and with tears in his eyes, the boy told the king that 
the White Ship had gone down and that his son, Prince 
William, had been drowned. 

The king fell upon the floor at the news and lay there 
as if dead. His only son, the joy of his heart, was no more. 
Time brought new joys and new cares, but it is said King 
Henry never smiled again. 

The only child left to the king was a daughter named 
Matilda. Before his death he did his utmost to get the 
nobles to support her claim to the throne, though a woman 
had never yet reigned alone in England. 



THE LOSS OF THE WHITE SHIP 61 

As soon as King Henry was dead, all the plans and 
schemes he had cunningly made came to nothing. His 
daughter Matilda was not made queen, because several of 
the great nobles did not care to have a woman reign over 
them in days when there were so many wars. So in 1135 
they chose Henry’s nephew Stephen, whose mother was 
the daughter of William the Conqueror. 

Reading-Note 

Read an extract from the Reverend J. White’s drama on the 
"Wreck of the White Ship,” found in Knight’s "Half Hours of Eng¬ 
lish History.” In this work may be found, conveniently arranged for 
ready reference, a dozen or more extracts from the best writers to 
illustrate many of the stories in this book. 


XIV 


THE NORMANS AND HOW THEY LIVED 
About Eight Hundred Years Ago 

After the battle of Hastings four foreign kings reigned 
in England, one after the other; that is to say, the three 
kings whom we have read about, William the Conqueror, 
the Red King, and his brother Henry, together with a very 
wicked king named Stephen. These four are often called 
the Norman kings of England. Their rule covers a period 
of eighty-eight years (1066-1154). 

The coming of the Normans made a great change in 
England. In the first place, all the chief men in the land 
were strangers who could not speak English. Hence there 
were two languages spoken in the country at the same time. 
• The king, the court, and the nobles spoke French, while the 
rest of the people spoke English. 

The Normans looked down upon the English as people 
very much beneath them, while the English looked upon 
their new masters with hatred. Very severe laws had to 
be made to prevent the English from murdering the Nor¬ 
mans when they found them alone and unprotected. Not 
only did the Normans take the best of the land for them- 

62 


THE NORMANS AND HOW THEY LIVED 63 

selves, but all the chief offices in the nation were held 
by them or their descendants. 

After a while the sons and grandsons of the Norman 
barons learned to speak English and began to look upon 
England as their real home. Then they became more 
friendly with the English and took pride in calling them¬ 
selves Englishmen. 

Under these Norman kings many castles were built for 
the nobles and other great men who were strangers in the 
land and wanted such places for safety. A hill or rock or 
some high ground near a river was usually chosen as a site 
upon which to build a baron’s stronghold. This was fur¬ 
ther strengthened by a deep ditch called a moat, which was 
dug round the walls. The chief building, where the baron 
and his family lived, was called the keep. Between this 
and the massive outer walls was an open space of ground, 
or court, where stood the stables for the horses and houses 
for the servants. 

The entrance to the castle grounds was barred by a 
strong gateway, which, on account of the ditch, could be 
reached only from the outside by a drawbridge. The pas¬ 
sage through the gateway could be closed by a spiked iron 
grating let down from above ; and the archway was pierced 
with holes, through which melted lead or boiling pitch 
could be poured upon an enemy trying to force an entrance. 
The gray ruins of many of these buildings are still to be 
seen in various parts of England. 


6 4 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


The Norman lords had but little furniture in their dwell¬ 
ings. The chief room was the large hall where the family 
and servants took their meals together. A long, rough table 
and some rude benches were all the articles it contained. 
Carpets were then unknown; but straw in winter and 
grass or rushes in summer were strewn in plenty on the 
earthen floor. 

The lord’s bedroom had a few stools and a straw bed. 
The ladies of the family had nothing better. The servants 
had to put up with a mat spread upon the floor, or else a 
heap of straw. 

If the houses of the rich were so bare of furniture, 
wretched indeed must have been the homes of the common 
people. Their houses were small, rude cabins, built of 
wood, thatched with straw, and plastered with mud. They 
had only one or two rooms, in which might be found an iron 
pot for cooking food, a pitcher, and a table, with a log or 
two to serve as stools. Chimneys were not in use either in 
the castle or in the lowly dwelling. A fire of wood, when 
needed, burned on the hearth, and the smoke was left to 
find its way out through an opening in the roof. 

The food of the common people was simpler than that 
of the upper classes. The bread of the workingman was 
brown in color and made of rye, oats, or barley; but the 
rich man ate white bread made of wheat flour. The brown 
bread, however, if less sweet than the other, was very good 
and wholesome. 


THE NORMANS AND HOW THEY LIVED 65 


In the baron’s kitchen the art of cooking was studied 
with much care. There were many dainty dishes of all 
kinds of meats. Fish of many sorts from the rivers, game 
from the fields and woods, and fowls that strutted in the 
farmyards were brought there in plenty. The peacock and 
the crane, birds which are now rare, were favorite dishes. 
On great feast days the wild boar’s head was thought a 
royal dainty. It was carried into the castle hall with much 
show of joy, and usually a song was sung as it was laid on 
the high table; when such music was wanting, a joyful 
shout took its place. 

Besides the food we have just named, the richer people 
fed on the flesh of the ox, cow, calf, sheep, and pig. When 
these meats were brought on the table they were called by 
Norman names. Thus the flesh of the ox and the cow was 
named beef, the flesh of the calf was called veal, that of 
the sheep was known as mutton, and that of the pig was 
called pork. 

There was not much garden produce in those days, and 
fruits were also few. Apples and pears grew in the orchards 
and gooseberries in the garden; but oranges and bananas, 
which are now so common, were not known. Potatoes, 
cabbages, carrots, turnips, celery, lettuce, which are now 
grown in every poor man’s plot of ground, were then un¬ 
known in England. 


XV 


RICHARD THE LION-HEARTED 

King Richard reigned from n8g to ugg 

There was once a king of England who was so brave 
and daring that men called him Richard the Lion-Hearted, 
He was a big, strong, handsome man, with great blue eyes 
and bright-yellow hair. No other man in England could 
use his battle-ax; no man could keep on his feet or hold 
on to his saddle against the thrust of his lance. 

Richard was so fond of war that as soon as he was 
made king he set off to the Holy Land to fight against the 
Saracens, who had taken the Holy City from the Christians. 
Many other Christian princes took part in this crusade, as 
it was called, but none of them were so brave as King 
Richard. Mounted on his good steed, with his huge battle- 
ax in hand, he would rush alone into the midst of the 
Saracens and cut them down as a reaper cuts down grain. 

They were so afraid of him at last that at the very 
sight of him they would put spurs to their horses and fly 
for their lives. Marching or camping, the Christian army 
had always to strive with the hot air of the glaring desert, 
or with the Saracen soldiers led by the brave Saladin, or 

66 


RICHARD THE LION-HEARTED 67 

with both together. Sickness and death, battle and wounds, 
beset them on every hand; but through every hardship 
King Richard fought like a giant and worked like a com¬ 
mon laborer. 

No one admired this king’s renown for bravery more 
than Saladin himself, who was a generous and gallant 
enemy. When Richard lay ill of a fever Saladin sent him 
fresh fruits from Damascus and snow from the mountain 
tops. Courtly messages and compliments were often ex¬ 
changed between them. Then King Richard would mount 
his horse and kill as many Saracens as he could, and Saladin 
would mount his horse and kill as many Christians as he 
could. In this way the lion-hearted king fought to his 
heart’s content. 

But Richard was very proud and had a hasty temper, 
and some of the other princes began to dislike him. One 
by one they went away and left him, and at last he did not 
have troops enough to carry on the war. Then he fell very 
sick of fever and had to go home to England. The Sar¬ 
acens, you may be sure, were glad to get rid of him. 

For years after he had gone, the very name of Richard 
was a word of fear to the Saracens. Long ages after he 
was quiet in his grave, the story of Lion-Heart’s terrible 
battle-ax, with twenty pounds of English iron in its mighty 
head, was told to the Saracen children by their fathers. If 
a horse shied at a shadow, his master would say, "How now, 
dost thou see King Richard ? ” And when Saracen mothers 


68 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


used to rock their babes to sleep, they would say to them, 
"Hush, be good, or I will give you to King Richard.” 

On his way home Richard was wrecked in the Gulf of 
Venice and found himself in the country of the duke of 
Austria. Now this duke was one of the Christian princes 
who did not like the English king and had had a quarrel 
with him in the Holy Land. King Richard knew that the 
duke would do him harm if he could; so he dressed himself 
like a poor man and, taking a boy with him, tried to make 
his way through Germany. 

The brave king fell ill on the way and had to send the 
boy to the market to buy food. The boy had a rich glove 
in his belt, such as only princes and nobles wore. When 
the people saw him they guessed who he was and made 
him tell where his master was staying. A band of soldiers 
came to the house and knocked at the door. Richard leaped 
from his bed and drew his sword. He was too weak to 
fight, but he said he would give in to no one but their 
leader. Then their leader stepped out, and who should it 
be but the duke of Austria. So the duke got Richard in his 
power and had him sent to a lonely castle among the hills. 
Soldiers were set over him with drawn swords to watch him 
night and day. 

There is a pretty story told of how Richard’s prison 
was found out, but I am not sure that it is true. King 
Richard was fond of music, and had a minstrel called 
Blondel, who was often with him and whom he liked very 


RICHARD THE LION-HEARTED 69 

much. The king and Blondel used to play and sing to¬ 
gether, and there was one song they sang that the king 
himself had composed. When Blondel heard that King 
Richard was in prison, he set off for Germany to find him. 
He went about from castle to castle, but could see nothing 
or hear nothing of his royal master. 

One evening he came to a lonely castle among the hills, 
and as he felt tired and weary he sat down under the walls 
to rest. Soon he heard a sweet voice singing a song that 
he knew well. It was the song that the king had composed. 
Could it be the king who was singing in his dungeon ? He 
strained his ears to listen. When the first verse was ended, 
Blondel took up the song and sang the second verse. Then 
the king, for it was Richard himself, knew that Blondel 
had found out where he was and that he would soon be 
free again. 

And so he was. His own people loved him so much that 
they paid a great price for his freedom. When he landed 
in England, there was such joy as the people had never 
known before. 

Troubles in England and war abroad again roused the 
lion-hearted king to action. His old enemy, the king of 
France, had invaded Normandy. To defend his capital, 
Richard built a fortress on the river Seine. 

"I will take it, though its walls be of iron,” said Philip. 

"I will hold it, were the walls of butter,” Richard replied. 

He wanted money to carry on the war; but before 


70 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


asking his people in England, as he usually did, to supply 
his needs, he heard of a treasure in the neighborhood. A 
great amount of gold, it was said, had been found buried on 
the land of a certain nobleman. Richard said the treasure 
was his. 

"You may have half, but not the whole/’ said the lord 
of the castle. 

Burning with rage, Richard attacked the place. During 
the contest a young archer named Bertrand took aim at 
the king and lodged an arrow in his shoulder. Richard’s 
army stormed the place and hanged everyone in it ex¬ 
cept Bertrand, whom they brought to the wounded king. 

"What have I done to thee,” the king asked, "that thou 
shouldst take my life ? ” 

"What hast thou done? ” replied the young man. "Thou 
hast killed my father and my two brothers with thine own 
hand. I have killed thee, and the world is rid of a tyrant.” 

"I forgive thee, boy,” said the dying Richard. "Take 
off his chains, give him a hundred shillings,” he added to 
his attendants, "and let him go.” 

The king sank down on his couch and died. His last 
command was not obeyed, for the bold archer was cruelly 
put to death. 

Reading-Note 

A most interesting and dramatic account of the adventures of 
Richard the Lion-Hearted is given in Sir Walter Scott’s "Talisman.” 


XVI 


THE SAD STORY OF LITTLE PRINCE ARTHUR 

King John reigned from i iqq to 1216 

John, called Lackland, came to the throne after the 
death of his brother, Richard the Lion-Hearted. This new 
king was not lion-hearted, but a mean, wicked, selfish, and 
cruel man. He was very cruel to his own people. He used 
to seize rich men, throw them into prison, and torture them 
to make them give him money. 

Many said that Arthur of Brittany, the king’s pretty 
little nephew, ought to have been the king. But Arthur was 
only twelve years of age, and the English liked to have a 
grown-up man as king rather than a little boy. The cruel 
uncle at last made up his mind to get rid of his little nephew. 
He seized Arthur and shut him up in a gloomy castle. 

One day while Arthur was in prison at this castle, he 
was thinking how strange it was that one so young should 
be in so much trouble. While he stood looking at the sum¬ 
mer sky and the birds, out of the small window in the deep, 
dark wall, the door opened softly and he saw his uncle, the 
king, standing in the shadow of the archway, looking 
very grim. 

7 1 


72 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


"Arthur/ 7 said the king, with his wicked eyes more on 
the stone floor than on his nephew, "will you not trust to 
the gentleness, the friendship, and the truthfulness of your 
loving uncle? 77 

"I will tell my loving uncle that, 77 replied the boy, "when 
he treats me right. Let him restore to me my kingdom of 
England, and then come to me and ask the question. 77 

The king looked at him and went out. "Keep that boy 
close prisoner, 77 said he to the warden of the castle. Then 
the king took secret counsel with the worst of his nobles as 
to how they were to get rid of the prince. Some said, "Put 
out his eyes and keep him in prison. 77 Others said, "Have 
himstabbed 77 ; others, "Have him hanged 77 ; others, "Have 
him poisoned. 77 

King John, feeling that in any case it would be a satis¬ 
faction to have those handsome eyes burned out that had 
looked at him so proudly while his own royal eyes were 
cast down, sent certain ruffians to the castle to blind the 
boy with red-hot irons. 

But Arthur shed such piteous tears and so appealed to 
Hubert de Bourg, the warden of the castle, who had a love 
for him, and was an honorable man, that Hubert could 
not bear it. At his own risk he sent the cruel men away. 

The disappointed king next thought of having the prince 
stabbed, and proposed it to one William de Bray. "I am a 
gentleman and not an executioner, 77 said William de Bray, 
and left the presence of the tyrant with disdain. 



PRINCE ARTHUR BEGS HUBERT TO SPARE HIS EYES 






































































































































































74 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


It was not difficult for the king to hire a murderer in 
those days. King John found one for his money and sent 
him down to the castle. 

"On what errand dost thou come ? ” said Hubert to this 
fellow. 

"To dispatch young Arthur/’ he returned. 

"Go back to him who sent thee/’ answered Hubert, 
"and say that I will do it.” 

King John, knowing very well that Hubert would never 
do it, but that he sent this reply to save the prince or to 
gain time, sent messengers to carry the young prisoner to 
another castle. 

Arthur was soon forced from the good Hubert, carried 
away by night, and put in his new prison, where, through 
his grated window, he could hear the deep waters of a river 
rippling against the stone wall below. 

How Prince Arthur died has never been ..known, but 
this story of his death has been told for these many years. 

One dark night as he lay sleeping, dreaming perhaps of 
rescue by those unfortunate friends who were suffering and 
dying in his cause, he was roused and bade by his jailer to 
come down the staircase to the foot of the tower. He 
dressed himself hurriedly and obeyed. When they came 
to the bottom of the winding stairs, where the night air 
from the river blew upon their faces, the jailer trod upon 
his torch and put it out. 


SAD STORY OF LITTLE PRINCE ARTHUR 75 

Arthur was pushed hurriedly into a boat, where he found 
his uncle and one other man. He knelt to them and prayed 
them not to murder him. Deaf to his entreaties, they 
stabbed him and sank his body in the river with heavy 
stones. 

When the spring morning broke, the tower door was 
closed, the boat was gone, the river sparkled on its way, 
and never more was there any trace of the poor little prince. 

At last things came to such a pass that the strong barons 
of England took the business into their own hands, met 
together, and swore that they would bind the king to govern 
justly and according to the law. They drew up a set of 
laws, some old and some new, such as they thought would 
best make sure the liberties of the English people and keep 
the king from oppressing them as he had always done. 

This set of laws is called the Great Charter. Very few 
people have done so much lasting good to their country as 
those barons who drew it up and forced King John to sign 
it in the year 1215. He was furious at being obliged to 
agree to it, and at first quite refused to do so; but the 
barons were too strong for him. They not only made him 
sign the charter, but named twenty-four barons out of their 
own number to see that he lived up to its conditions. 

Everyone thought there was going to be a dreadful civil 
war. But happily for England and humanity the death of 
the wicked king was near. While he was crossing a danger- 


76 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


ous quicksand the tide came up and nearly drowned his 
army. He and his soldiers escaped; but looking back from 
the shore when he was safe, he saw the roaring waters 
sweep down in a torrent, overturn the wagons, horses, and 
men that carried his treasure, and engulf them in a raging 
whirlpool. 

Cursing and swearing, King John went to an abbey, 
where the monks set before him quantities of pears and 
peaches and new cider, of which he ate and drank like a 
glutton. All night he lay ill of a burning fever, haunted 
with horrible fears. 

Next day his servants put their royal master into a 
litter and carried him to a castle, where he passed another 
night of pain and horror. The following day they carried 
him, with greater difficulty than on the day before, to an¬ 
other castle. There this cruel and wicked king breathed 
his last. 


Reading-Note 

For another version of the death of little Prince Arthur the teacher 
may read to the class the account as given in Shakespeare’s "King 
John,” Act IV, Scene i. 


XVII 


THE BLACK PRINCE AT THE BATTLE OF CRECY 

In the Year 1346 

One of the bravest and best-loved kings that England 
ever had was King Edward the Third. He was a wise man, 
just and kind to his own people, but he was very fond of 
war. Like most warriors, he was now and then very cruel. 

He had a son who was so gentle and brave and hand¬ 
some that all men loved him. As he wore black armor, 
they called him the Black Prince. 

When King Edward’s uncle, the king of France, died 
and left no son, Edward thought he had a right to the 
French throne. When his cousin was made king instead, 
he went over to France and made war against him. 

The Black Prince, who was then sixteen years old, went 
with his father. They won many battles against the French, 
one of which was called the battle of Crecy. 

The English had come to a village called Crecy, which 
is in the north of France, when they heard that the French 
king, with an army three times as large as theirs, was 
coming up to fight them. So the English king with great 
skill drew up his soldiers in line of battle near Crecy. 

77 


78 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


As the king rode from rank to rank, cheering his soldiers 
and giving his orders, he looked so noble and brave that 
every man felt sure he would win the battle. When he 
had seen that his soldiers were in good trim and ready 
for the fight, he told them to sit down and eat and rest 
themselves. 

As the French came in sight, the English leaped to their 
feet and set up a great shout, and would have rushed to 
meet them, but the king kept them in check. " Steady, 
men, steady,” he said. "There must be no noise, no break¬ 
ing of your ranks.” Then the soldiers stood still and waited 
in silence for the coming of the French. 

While they were yet afar off, big black clouds came 
sweeping across the sky, the lightning flashed, the thunder 
rolled, and the rain came pelting down. Then the sky grew 
clear again, and the sun shone out bright and warm. As 
soon as the storm was over, the French archers, who were 
in front of the army, came on with a shout, and let fly 
their arrows at the English. But the rain had wet their 
bowstrings, and their arrows fell short. 

Then the English archers, who had kept their bows dry 
in cases, drew their bowstrings to their ears and took 
good aim. The arrows fell thick and fast and pierced the 
faces and hands and bodies of the Frenchmen through and 
through. No men could have stood up against a fire so 
well aimed and fierce, and the French bowmen soon turned 
on their heels and ran. 


THE BLACK PRINCE AT CRECY 


79 


But the French horsemen came bravely on. They 
spurred their horses into the midst of the English, and kept 
up a fierce fight till dusk. The Black Prince, who led the 
English knights, drove the French back again and again. 
But as fast as they were beaten back, more came on, and 
it was hard work for the prince to hold his ground. A knight 
who saw what danger he was in rode off to the king, who 
was watching the battle, and asked him to send help to 
the prince. 

"Is my son killed or hurt?” asked the king. 

"No, sire,” said the knight. 

"Then tell him,” said the king, "he shall have no help 
from me. Let the boy win the battle himself, and the glory 
of the day shall be his.” 

The king’s words gave the prince and his soldiers more 
courage. They dashed at the French with all their might. 
The French king was wounded, and fled for his life; his 
best captains were cut down and killed. As darkness came 
on, the whole French army turned and ran away, leaving 
thousands of their comrades dead upon the field. 

It was quite dark by now. Camp fires had been lighted 
and torches were blazing when the king came forth to meet 
his son. He took the boy in his arms, and, clasping him to 
his breast, said to him: "My son, my dear son, may God 
give you grace to go on as you have begun. You have done 
nobly this day, and shown that you are worthy to be 
a king.” 


8o 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


The boy looked down and blushed, and said all the 
praise was due to his father. When King Edward saw 
how brave his son had been in battle, and how modest he 
was after it, the king was more joyful than he had been 
over the great victory of Crecy. 

Young Edward took for his crest three ostrich feathers, 
and for his motto two German words meaning ”1 serve/’ 
These are the crest and motto of the Prince of Wales to 
this day. You may be sure that the English were very 
proud of their brave young prince. 

This battle of Crecy was only one of the many victories 
that the Black Prince won. His goodness and gentleness 
made everybody love him, and his valor in battle gave the 
English hopes that he would prove as good a king as his 
father. This brave prince did not live to be king of Eng¬ 
land, but died in 1376. 


Reading-Note 

Selections from Henty’s "St. George for England.” A tale of Crecy. 


XVIII 


THE GOOD QUEEN AND THE BRAVE CITIZENS 

In the Year 1347 

King Edward the Third, after his victory at Crecy, 
marched on till he came to the town of Calais, a seaport on 
the northeast coast of France. 

Now the king was vexed with the people of this town; 
for many of them were pirates, and had often taken Eng¬ 
lish ships and burned them, and tried to ruin the trade of 
England on the seas. 

But Calais was a very strong city, with thick, high walls 
and a deep ditch round it. King Edward thought it would 
be easier to starve the people out than to break down the 
walls and take the town by force. So he drew up his sol¬ 
diers in a circle round Calais, to keep the people from tak¬ 
ing food into the city, and gave orders for his fleet to cruise 
off the coast and stop every ship that tried to get in or out 
of the port. 

Now and again a French ship would steal in by night 
with bread for the starving people. But what was one ship¬ 
load or ten shiploads among so many? Yet they held out 
for a whole year. When their bread and meat were gone 

81 


82 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


they ate horses and dogs and cats and rats and mice 
rather than give in to the English. 

At last there was nothing left to eat. The people had 
become lean and pale and sickly. They sent word to King 
Edward that they would give up the city if he would spare 
their lives and let them go free. But the king was angry 
and would not hear of it. 

"If the men of Calais/’ he said, "will send me six of their 
chief citizens, with heads and feet bare and with ropes 
round their necks and the keys of their city in their hands, 
I will work my will on these six, but I will spare all the rest.” 

Then the great church bell was rung to call the people 
of Calais together. When they heard what the king had 
said, they wept and wrung their hands, but no one spoke 
a word. At last one of the chief men, who was the richest 
in town, stood up and said: "Friends, what a pity it is to let 
so many die when six of us can save them. For myself, 
I have hope in God that if I give up my life for the people, 
I shall have pardon for my sins. So I will be the first one 
of the six to go out with my head and feet bare and a rope 
around my neck, and give myself up to the English king.” 

This noble speech fired the hearts of all who heard it. 
Then another citizen stood up and said that he would give 
his life; and so did a third and a fourth and a fifth and a 
sixth. As the six pale, thin, hollow-eyed citizens passed 
out of the city gates, with bare feet and in their shirts, 
with ropes round their necks and the keys of their town 


THE QUEEN AND THE CITIZENS 83 

in their hands, there was not a dry eye in all the crowd 
that came to see them and bless them as they went. 

When they came where the king was, they fell on their 
knees and said: " Gentle king, we are six of the chief citizens 
of Calais, who come to put ourselves at your mercy to save 
the rest of our people. Have pity on us if it is your good 
will.” It is said that even the English knights and soldiers 
shed tears at this pitiful sight. 

King Edward alone remained stern, severe, and un¬ 
moved by the sight of so much heroism. Although those 
around him begged him to show mercy, he gave orders for 
the six brave men of Calais to be hanged at once. "Away 
with them,” he said. "The men of Calais have killed so 
many of my people that I will have the lives of these six.” 

This cruel deed was about to be done when fortunately 
the king’s wife, the good Queen Philippa, was moved by 
this sorrowful news. She had quite lately come over from 
England to join her husband ; and while all this was going 
on she was in her tent close by. When she was told how 
hard and cruel the king was in his purpose, she threw her¬ 
self in tears at his feet and prayed him for her sake to be 
merciful and let the poor men go free. 

"My gentle lord,” she said, "I have crossed the sea at 
great peril to see you, and I have not yet asked a favor 
from you. I pray you now, for Heaven’s sake and for love 
of me, your wife, that you will have mercy on these 
six men.” 


8 4 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


The king knit his brows and was silent a while. Then 
he said: "Lady, I wish you had been elsewhere. You beg 
in such a way that I cannot deny you. Take these six men; 
I give them to you. Do with them as you will.” 

The good queen took the six men, gave them new clothes 
to put on, feasted them, and sent them away with rich 
presents, to the great rejoicing of the whole camp. 

Calais was given up to the English king, and it became 
an English town for more than two hundred years. 

It has been said that cannon were used for the first time 
in battle at Crecy, but this is uncertain. In the siege of 
Calais, however, cannon were used, but they were too 
poorly made and loaded with too little gunpowder to do 
much damage. 


XIX 


HOW WAT TYLER LED A REVOLT OF THE 
COMMON PEOPLE 

In the Year 1*381 

Richard the Second was the son of the brave and noble 
Black Prince; but he was a very weak king. He came to 
the throne when he was quite a little boy, on the death of 
his grandfather Edward the Third. The whole English 
nation was ready to admire the young king for the sake 
of his father. 

As to the lords and ladies about the court, they declared 
him to be the most beautiful, the wisest, and the best, even 
of princes. 

In those days the rich treated the poor badly. Some of 
the poorest people were slaves. They were made to work 
on the same farm all their lives, and could be sold by their 
masters like cows or horses. Even those poor people who 
were free and lived in towns had to work hard for low 
wages. The rich kept them down and made them pay heavy 
taxes, when they could earn barely money enough to keep 
themselves alive. 

One day an officer was going from house to house to 
gather the taxes in a little town in Kent, when he stopped 

85 


86 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


at the cottage of a tiler named Wat. The poor man was at 
his work close by, laying tiles on the roof of a house, and 
only his wife and daughter were at home. Wat the tiler, 
or Wat Tyler, as we call him now, saw the man go into his 
cottage, and soon after heard a loud scream. In an instant 
he jumped down from the roof, ran into his house, and 
seeing the officer rude to his daughter, struck him on the 
head with his hammer and killed him. 

When Wat Tyler killed the brutal officer, all the poor 
people in the villages round about took his part. They 
agreed to go to London to lay their complaints before the 
king, and, if need be, to fight for what they thought to be 
their rights. Before many days had passed, thousands of 
poor, rough, wild-looking men, some with bows, some with 
rusty old swords, and many with scythes fastened to the 
ends of poles, were on the march to London. Wat Tyler 
rode at their head. 

When the rebels arrived in London they marched up 
and down the streets, burning the houses of the rich, 
breaking open the doors of the prisons, and striking off 
the head of every man they met who would not say 
he was for "King Richard and the common people.” 
The gold and silver plate that they found in rich men’s 
houses they ruined with their hammers, but they took 
none of it away. They were so angry with one man who 
stole a silver cup and hid it in his clothes that they flung 
him into the river. 



DEATH OF WAT TYLER 




















































































88 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


The young king, who was only sixteen, rode up to them 
and called out, "What is it you want, my men ? ” 

" We want you to make us free,” they said. 

The king said he would give them freedom, and told 
them to go back to their homes. But Wat Tyler, with 
many thousands of rebels, stayed in London. 

The next day King Richard met them again, and Tyler 
rode up to have a talk with the king. While he was speak¬ 
ing in his rough way, he laid his hand on the king’s bridle. 
Upon this, the Lord Mayor of London, thinking the king 
in danger, plunged his dagger into Tyler’s neck. Wat fell 
bleeding from his horse, and one of the king’s servants 
thrust his sword into him and put an end to his life. 

In an instant the rebels bent their bows and shouted, 
"Kill! kill!” But the young king saved himself by his 
coolness. Riding up to the mob, he said to them: "What 
are you doing, my good men ? Tyler was a traitor. I will 
be your leader; follow me! ” 

They followed him to where his soldiers were lying in 
wait. When the rebels saw the trap they had fallen into, 
they craved the king’s pardon and laid down their arms and 
went quietly back to their homes. 

It would be very much pleasanter if we could say that 
the young king kept his promise; but he did not. Perhaps 
he was not able; for he was only a boy, and the government 
was not in his own hands. There was a good deal of blood 


WAT TYLER 89 

shed, and many hundreds of rebels were put to death 
before the rebellion was crushed. 

The young king's presence of mind on this occasion gave 
the people great hope that he would become a wise and a 
good king, but this hope was not fulfilled. Richard was 
too fond of ease and pomp, as well as of dress, to make a 
king fit to rule the English, who were always ready for war. 
What he said one day he was apt to change the next, and 
so he lost the love of his people. 

King Richard was put to a cruel death in 1399, and his 
cousin Henry came to the throne with the title of Henry 
the Fourth. 

The spirit of freedom which was aroused at this time 
in the minds of the people never died out. Each succeed¬ 
ing year it grew stronger. Wat Tyler's revolt was really 
the beginning of the long struggle on the part of the English 
people to be free, both in mind and in body. 


XX 


PRINCE HAL AND THE GREAT VICTORY 
OF AGINCOURT 

In the Year 1415 

Prince Hal was the nickname given to the eldest son of 
King Henry the Fourth. I must tell you that this young 
prince was sometimes wild. His love of fun often carried 
him too far, and he became a source of great grief to 
his father. 

One day one of Prince HaPs idle companions was brought 
before the chief justice of England for the crime of rob¬ 
bery, was condemned, and sent to prison. 

When the prince was told of this he hurried to the court 
where the judge was still sitting, and rudely demanded that 
his friend should be set free at once. The judge spoke 
very quietly and told the prince to remember that no man, 
not even the king himself, was free to break the laws of 
the land. 

At this the prince, more angry than before, cried out, 
"If you will not hear my words, you shall feel my blows,” 
and, drawing his sword, was about to rush at the chief jus¬ 
tice. The judge was not in the least afraid, but said firmly, 

90 


PRINCE HAL AND AGINCOURT 


9i 


"Withdraw, sir, from this court.” This only made the 
prince more furious than ever. He rushed forward and 
struck the chief justice as he sat upon the bench. 

The prince was at once seized. The judge still kept his 
temper, and said in a firm, clear voice: "Prince, I sit here 
in the place of our sovereign lord, your king and father. As 
his son and subject, you are doubly bound to obey him. 
In his name I order you to be taken to prison, there to re¬ 
main until the king’s will be known.” 

The prince, with a brave man’s respect for courage in 
others, at once changed his mood, gave up his sword, bowed 
low to the judge, and went off to prison without speaking 
one word. 

When the king was told what had occurred, he ex¬ 
claimed, "God, I thank thee for giving me a judge who 
has the courage to put the laws in force, and a son who 
knows how to obey them.” 

When the prince afterwards became king, instead of 
showing anger against this good and brave judge, as a 
mean man would have done, he treated him with the 
greatest respect. 

However badly Prince Hal behaved before he was 
king, it is certain that he changed his wild ways after 
he came to the throne. Among the very first things he 
did after he became king was to prepare for renewing 
the war with France. So Henry led an army over into 
that country. 


92 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


It was not a very large army at first, and there was soon 
so much illness among the men that in a very short time 
only about half of it was left. But the king had made 
up his mind not to give in. He marched on until he met the 
great French host, and then he got ready for battle. The 
king saw to everything himself and kept up the hearts of 
his men by his own cheerfulness. 

When someone said it was a pity that they had not 
with them some of the brave men who were left at home in 
England, King Henry declared that he did not wish to have 
one more. "If God gives us victory,” he said, "the fewer 
we are the more honor there will be to share among us. If 
not, the fewer we are the smaller the loss will be to Eng¬ 
land.” The English soldiers, being now all in good heart, 
were refreshed with bread and wine, heard prayers, and 
waited quietly for the French. 

The English archers at the outset drove back the 
French horse, blinding them with their arrows and con¬ 
fusing them so that they rolled over one another and 
trampled on their riders. Then eighteen French knights 
who had sworn to kill the English king came up. But 
the king and those around him fought so bravely that not 
one of those eighteen got away alive. 

Everybody could see where Henry was because he 
wore a gold crown over his helmet. A piece of the crown 
was struck off once while he was guarding the royal flag, 
but he himself was not hurt. 


PRINCE HAL AND AGINCOURT 


93 


The English, seeing their king always in the thick of the 
battle, fought like lions. The French fought bravely, too, 
but it was of no use. Before night had come, all those who 
were not killed or made prisoners had run away, and left 
the English flag floating in triumph over the field of the 
battle of Agincourt. 

The English people welcomed their brave king home 
with shouts of rejoicing, and plunged into the water to 
bear him ashore on their shoulders. They flocked in 
crowds to welcome him in every town through which 
he passed. They hung rich carpets and tapestries out of 
their windows, and strewed the streets with flowers. 


XXI 


BRAVE KNIGHTS AND HOW THEY FOUGHT IN 
OLDEN TIMES 

We have been told a great deal about the bold and 
gallant deeds of the old-time warriors. Let us now read 
of the trials and hard service these men went through to 
fit themselves the better for the tests of daily life and 
the battlefield. 

The title of knight was the highest that could be 
given to a soldier, and was given only to those who had 
proved themselves to be very brave on the field of battle. 

A knight wore a pair of costly spurs and a rich belt 
to distinguish him from other men. He was treated with 
great respect by others. No one could look down upon 
him, not even the king, who was generally a knight himself. 
Even if a man should spring from the lowest rank and be¬ 
come a knight, he was then considered a gentleman and 
free to associate with the highest in the land. 

It will easily be understood that nearly every gentle¬ 
man’s son in the country would wish to be a knight ; 
but to become one he had to go through a long training. 

The sons of nobles first became pages in the house¬ 
hold of some knight. They were then taught how to 

94 


BRAVE KNIGHTS AND HOW THEY FOUGHT 95 

handle a sword. This was done by sketching on the trunk 
of a tree the image of a man, marked in places to corre¬ 
spond to the parts of the human body. The page had 
to thrust at this with his sword until he could hit any part 
he wished. 

He then learned to manage a horse, and to use a lance 
while on horseback. He had to ride at a pole set upright 
in the earth with a shield fastened to it with thongs of 
leather, and try to lift the shield and carry it away with 
his lance. The pole was supposed to take the place of an 
enemy knight. 

Another step in his training was to ride on horse¬ 
back and strike with his lance the breast of a wooden 
Saracen. If he failed to hit the figure fairly in the center, 
it turned on a spindle and struck him on the back with a 
wooden sword. 

When the page was strong enough and could use his 
weapons well, he became a kind of body servant called 
a squire. He then followed his master into battle and 
put into practice what he had learned as a page. After 
serving some years as a squire, if he proved himself brave 
in war he was considered fit to be made a knight. 

Perhaps you would like to know just how a knight was 
made. Let me tell you. In the first place, there was a 
great deal of ceremony. The squire had to spend several 
nights in church, watching and praying. He also watched 
for at least one night his armor hanging over the altar. 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


96 

The next morning, after a service in church, he was brought 
to the king or to some great noble, who struck him on the 
back with the flat of a sword, and said in a loud voice, "In 
the name of God, Saint Michael, and Saint George, I name 
thee knight; be brave, hardy, and loyal.” The spurs of 
the new knight were then buckled on him by the ladies who 
were present. 

Sometimes, however, a knight was made at once on the 
field of battle for some very brave deed. This was con¬ 
sidered a great honor. 

On great festivals it was a common practice for knights 
to have battles with each other to see which of them was 
the best horseman or the most skillful in the use of the 
lance. The contests were called tournaments, and were 
carried out in the following way. 

A great space in an open meadow was fenced in with 
wooden barriers. This space was called the lists, and the 
barriers were made of such a height that persons could see 
over them. Crowds of people stood outside the barriers 
to see the battle. In one part of the lists a great wooden 
stand was made, in which sat the king and his nobles with 
their wives and daughters. 

All knights who wished to test their valor hung up 
their shields inside the lists. A. knight, having decided 
with whom he would like to contend, touched that knight’s 
shield with his lance. The owner of the shield then had to 
come out and fight. 






HOW BRAVE KNIGHTS FOUGHT IN OLDEN TIMES 






















































































98 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

The two knights, mounted on horses and covered with 
armor, went to opposite sides of the lists and waited for 
a signal. When this was given they put spurs to their 
horse and rushed at each other with their lances. 

The object of each was to strike the other with his 
lance in such a way as to throw him from his saddle. 
The one who fell was declared beaten and had to leave 
the lists. If the two knights were equal in strength, per¬ 
haps neither fell from his horse, although their lances might 
be broken into pieces. In battles of this kind the sharp 
points of the lances were taken off, so that the knights 
might not kill each other. 

The knight who on the first day of the tournament was 
thought to have done the best had the privilege of select¬ 
ing among the ladies present the one whom he thought the 
most beautiful, and she was then elected “ Queen of Love.” 
She sat in a high place, and when the tournament was 
ended she gave the prizes to the victorious knights. The 
last day of the tournament was generally given up to a 
battle between a number of knights. 

Sometimes, however, in tournaments the knights fought 
with sharp lances. If a knight happened to be thrown from 
his horse and not killed, then the knights drew their swords 
and fought until one of them was killed or until the king 
gave the signal to stop. 

Knights often fought in this way when they had quar¬ 
reled with one another. Again, if one knight was accused 


BRAVE KNIGHTS AND HOW THEY FOUGHT 99 


by another of wrongdoing, the one accused might challenge 
the other to fight. If he won, he was considered innocent; 
but if he was beaten, he was judged to be guilty. This was 
called trial by battle. 


Reading-Note 

In the opening chapters of Sir Walter Scott’s "Ivanhoe” may be 
found a vivid account of the manner in which knights fought in the 
olden days. Read selections from chapter vii for "Passage of Arms 
at Ashby” and selections from chapter xii for "Second Day of 
the Tournament.” 



XXII 


QUEEN MARGARET AND THE ROBBER 
War of the Roses, from 1455 to 1485 

One day when roses were in bloom, two noblemen came 
to angry words in the Temple Garden, by the side of the 
river Thames. In the midst of their quarrel one of them 
tore a white rose from a bush, and, turning to those who 
were near him, said, "He who will stand by me in this 
quarrel, let him pluck a white rose with me and wear it 
in his hat.” 

Then the other nobleman tore a red rose from another 
bush, and said, "Let him who will stand by me pluck a red 
rose and wear it as his badge.” 

This quarrel led to a great civil war; that is, a war in 
which people of the same nation fight one against the other. 

It was called the War of the Roses, for every soldier 
wore a white or red rose on his helmet, to show on which 
side he fought. 

The king, Henry the Sixth, and his wife, Queen Mar¬ 
garet, were on the side of the "Red Roses.” It was a 
sad sight to see the king and the great nobles trying to 
kill each other. 


100 



QUEEN MARGARET SEEKS PROTECTION FROM THE ROBBER 
FOR HERSELF AND THE PRINCE 













102 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


You will read some day about the great battles that 
were fought and all the wicked deeds that were done dur¬ 
ing those dreadful times. Let me tell you now one story 
of the war to show you what a cruel thing war is. 

In a battle at a place called Hexham the king’s party 
was beaten, and Queen Margaret with her little son had to 
flee for her life. She had not gone far from the battlefield 
when she was met by a band of robbers. They stopped her 
and took all her jewels from her fingers, and, holding a 
drawn sword over her head, swore they would kill her if 
she dared to stir. 

The poor queen fell on her knees and cried, and begged 
them to have pity on her and spare the young prince, her 
only son. Now while the queen was on her knees the rob¬ 
bers began to quarrel among themselves as to how they 
would share their plunder; and, drawing their swords, they 
fought one against another. When the queen saw what 
was going on she leaped to her feet, and, taking the young 
prince by the hand, made off with him as fast as she could. 

There was a thick wood close at hand, and Queen Mar¬ 
garet plunged into it. But she was sorely afraid all the 
while, and trembled from head to foot; for she knew this 
wood was a hiding-place for robbers and outlaws in that 
wild and lonely region. Every tree she fancied was a man 
with a drawn sword in his hand, making ready to kill her. 

But she went on and on through the dark forest, this 
way and that, not knowing where she was going, until she 


QUEEN MARGARET AND THE ROBBER 103 

saw by the light of the rising moon a tall, fierce man step 
out from behind a tree and come walking up to her. She 
knew by his dress that he was a robber, but she made up 
her mind to throw herself upon his mercy. When he came 
near she spoke to him. 

"Friend,” she said, "for Heaven’s sake, have pity upon 
me. I am the queen. Kill me if thou wilt, but spare my 
son. He is the son of the king. Take him; I will trust him 
to thee. Keep him safe from those who seek his life, and 
God will have pity on thee for all thy sins.” 

The tears of the queen moved the heart of the fierce 
robber. He took up the prince in his arms, and, bidding 
the queen follow him, led them to a cave in the rocks. Here 
he gave them food and kept them safe for two days, until 
their friends came and took care of them. 

If ever you go to Hexham Forest, you may see this 
robber’s cave. To this day the people call it Queen Mar¬ 
garet’s Cave. 

But all the queen’s efforts could not save her son. After 
many changes of fortune he was taken prisoner. 

"How dared you,” said the king, when the unhappy 
prince was brought to his tent, "take up arms against your 
king ? ” 

"I fought for my father,” the brave prince replied, 
"whose crown I shall one day wear.” 

"That day shall never come,” cried the king; and the 
royal attendants fell upon the prince and killed him. 


XXIII 


THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER 
In the Year 1483 

The Tower of London, a square, gloomy castle on the 
banks of the river Thames, has heard the sighs and moans 
of many a weary prisoner, has seen many princes and great 
men led forth to die, and has beheld many a dark deed of 
blood; but it never saw a deed more dark and cruel than 
the murder of two innocent little boys, whose only crime 
was that they were the heirs to the English throne. 

These two boys were the sons of King Edward the 
Fourth, and they had been left to the care of their uncle, 
Richard, duke of Gloucester. Richard was a pale, haggard 
man, with dark, flashing, keen eyes, a sharp, thin face, and 
bent shoulders. He was known by the nickname of Richard 
Crookback. 

Now Richard was as cunning as he was wicked. He 
made the people believe that the older of the young princes 
was not fit to be king, and got them to make him king in 
his place. After he was made king he was more cruel than 
ever. He never went to see the princes, nor let them stir 
out of the little room in the Tower. A cruel man called 

104 


THE PRINCES IN THE TOWER 105 

Black Will waited on them and saw to it that they did 
not escape from their prison. 

The poor little princes were very unhappy shut up in 
this lonely chamber. Instead of laughing and playing 
like other boys, they used to sit still and cry. One day 
the young king, for he was a king, though he never wore 
a crown, sighed and said to his brother, "I should not 
care if my uncle took my crown, if he would only give 
me my life.” 

Richard wanted to get rid of the princes, for his crown 
was not safe as long as they lived. Yet he knew the gov¬ 
ernor of the Tower was a good man and would not hurt the 
princes for anyone. So one night he sent a bad man named 
Sir James Tyrrel to the Tower, with orders to the governor 
to give up the keys to him. 

Two fierce, rough men went with him. One was TyrrePs 
own groom, a big, burly fellow; the other was a villain who 
had made murder his trade. 

As soon as Tyrrel had got the keys of the Tower and 
had sent the governor away, he told the two men to go to 
the little room where the princes slept, while he waited out¬ 
side and kept watch. 

Slowly and softly they stole up the stone stairs, a dark 
lantern in their hands, and came into the room where the 
princes lay asleep. They were in the same bed. Their 
arms were round each other’s necks, and their faces were 
touching each other. 


106 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

For a moment the heart of one of the villains was moved, 
and he said he could not kill them, for they looked so sweet 
and innocent. But the other man reminded him of all the 
money they were to have. Then they took the bedclothes 
and covered the faces of the children, and pressed the pil¬ 
lows on the top and kept them down tight till the poor little 
princes were dead. 

When all was over the men brought Tyrrel up to see 
the bodies, so that he might be able to tell the king that the 
deed had been done. By the light of the lantern they dug 
a deep hole at the foot of the stairs and put the bodies of 
the princes into it. Then they covered them over with rub¬ 
bish, put down the stones again, and went their way. 

Two hundred years after this cruel deed, some work¬ 
men, digging under the stone stairs in the Tower, found 
the bones of the two little princes. Charles the Second, 
who was then the king, had them taken up and put in a 
casket and buried in Westminster Abbey. 

Reading-Note 

Read three short selections from Shakespeare’s "Richard III,” de¬ 
scribing the murder of the princes: the wicked king hires Tyrrel to 
murder the princes, Act IV, Scene ii; Tyrrel’s story of the murder, 
Act IV, Scene iii; the grief of Queen Margaret, Act IV, Scene iv. 


XXIV 


THE FIRST ENGLISH PRINTER 

William Caxton, born 1412; died 1491 

After all the stories we have read of war and battle, of 
blood and murder, of hatred and quarrel, it will be pleas¬ 
ant for us to read of something that is good and peace¬ 
able, of something that is useful to our fellow men. Such 
is the story of how the printing-press came to be set up in 
England. 

Before the year 1477, books were so dear that even 
kings and wealthy nobles could have only a few books in 
their homes. There is a story told of Louis the Eleventh of 
France that when he once wished to borrow a book from a 
rich man, he and one of his nobles had to sign a paper, in 
which they both solemnly and faithfully promised to let 
the owner have his book back again. Besides this, he had 
to give the owner a large quantity of costly silver plate to 
keep until the book was returned. 

Before the art of printing was invented all books were 
written by hand, slowly and with much labor. They were 
often full of costly little pictures (also made by hand), 
richly bound in velvet, and fastened with gold or silver 

107 


108 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

clasps, in which precious stones were sometimes set. It 
was at that time of no use for a poor man to learn to read, 
for he had no chance of getting any books. 

William Caxton, a London merchant, was born in 1412, 
a short time before the reign of Henry the Fifth, the soldier 
king. He lived all through the troubled times of the War 
of the Roses, and during the reign of six English kings. He 
went abroad and lived for some time in Bruges, a famous 
old town in Flanders. He was in the service of the duchess 
of Burgundy, a lady who was the sister of the English king 
Edward the Fourth. 

There was at that time a famous man who had learned 
printing from the Germans. It was from him that Caxton 
acquired this wonderful art of making books. 

The first book that Caxton printed was called the " Tales 
of Troy.” When he had brought out this book he returned 
to England, after an absence of nearly thirty-five years. 

Caxton set up his printing-press at Westminster, within 
the limits of the Abbey, "at the sign of the Red Pale.” He 
advertised his wares as "good chepe”; that is, very cheap. 

Caxton was at this time probably over sixty years of 
age; but for fifteen years he worked with intense energy, 
not only in printing books but in translating others into 
English before he printed them. This new art seemed so 
wonderful at first to the people that they thought the work¬ 
men who were engaged in it must have been helped by 
the Evil One. 


THE FIRST ENGLISH PRINTER 109 

The first book printed in England was the "Game and 
Play of the Chess/’ printed in 1477. Caxton, having once 
begun, was never idle. He printed the poems of Chaucer, 
"the Morning Star of English poetry”; and he sent out 
from the sign of the Red Pale sixty-four books in all on 
various subjects, all of them printed with the odd old types 
now known as black letter. One of Caxton’s greatest dif¬ 
ficulties was the changes that were then taking place in the 
English language. Thus he says, "Our language now used 
varieth far from that which was used and spoken when I 
was born.” 

Edward the Fourth, Richard the Third, Henry the 
Seventh, and many English noblemen took an interest in 
Caxton’s work. Once, when discouraged at the length of a 
piece of work he had undertaken, a rich nobleman per¬ 
suaded him to go on, and promised him a fee of a stag in 
summer and a deer in winter. Amidst general encourage¬ 
ment and interest the old man worked on and was full of 
plans when death took him away, leaving behind him a 
name which will always be famous while the English 
language exists. 


XXV 


THE STORY OF THE "INVINCIBLE ARMADA” 
The Armada was defeated in the Year 1588 

Queen Mary, the eldest daughter of Henry the Eighth, 
was the first woman to rule over England. Her marriage 
in 1554 to Philip, the heir of the vast Spanish empire, had 
excited great alarm and indignation throughout England. 
For you know that at this time a bitter feeling existed be¬ 
tween the Spanish and the English people. 

When Philip came to England to meet his bride his 
proud and haughty ways made him hated still more. For¬ 
tunately for England, Queen Mary died after a brief reign 
of a little over five years. Her sister Elizabeth, the good 
Queen Bess, succeeded to the throne. 

Great was the joy in England when Elizabeth began to 
reign. The bells in all the churches were set ringing, and 
tables were spread in the streets, " where was plentiful 
eating, drinking, and making merry.” At night bonfires 
were lighted in the streets, and everyone seemed glad 
that the stern and gloomy Mary was gone. All felt that 
there would be a change for the better in the condition 
of the country. 


no 


THE "INVINCIBLE ARMADA 


hi 


Queen Elizabeth showed great wisdom in her choice of 
persons to aid her with their counsel. Much of the success 
of her glorious reign is due to the wisdom of her able ad¬ 
visers. Now this same Philip of Spain who had married 
Queen Mary and had tried to become king of England 
was the richest and most powerful ruler in the world. 
Thirty years after his wife’s death, when Elizabeth was 
reigning in England, he resolved to build the largest fleet 
of the largest ships the world had ever seen, and with it 
subdue England and make it a part of his vast empire. He 
fitted out a fleet of one hundred and thirty large ships, 
manned by eight thousand sailors and galley slaves, and 
carrying twenty thousand troops. 

The Invincible Armada, as Philip called it, the fleet that 
could never be beaten, left Lisbon on the 29th of May, 
1588. It was ordered to sail to Calais, to be joined there 
by troops from the Netherlands. 

England was not idle in making ready to resist the 
Spaniards. All the men between sixteen and sixty were 
trained and drilled. The royal navy at this time consisted 
of only thirty-six sail; but the towns of England and many 
private gentlemen eagerly fitted out vessels at their own 
expense, and bought great numbers of cannon and large 
quantities of gunpowder. 

Very soon a fleet of one hundred and ninety-one ships, 
small, but swift and active, and filled with daring sailors, 
was afloat upon the waters of the English Channel. Most 


112 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


of them were little larger than yachts, while the Spanish 
vessels were like huge floating castles. But the English 
ships could sail twice as fast as the Spanish and fire three 
shots to the Spaniards’ one. 

So with all England roused like one strong, angry man, 
with both sides of the Thames fortified, and with the sol¬ 
diers under arms and the sailors in their ships, the country 
waited for the coming of the proud Spanish fleet. The 
queen herself, riding on a white horse, with armor on her 
back, and the earl of Essex and the earl of Leicester hold¬ 
ing her bridle rein, made a stirring speech to the troops at 
Tilbury, opposite Gravesend. She was received with much 
enthusiasm. 

"I come among you,” said the queen, "to live or die 
with you, to lay down my crown even in the dust, for my 
God and my people. I know I have but the body of a 
weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart of a king, 
and of a king of England.” 

She ordered bonfires to be made on every hilltop and 
kindled when the Armada came in sight, so as to flash the 
news over the whole country. 

The evening shadows of the summer sun on the 19th 
of July, 1588, were slowly lengthening over the bowling- 
green of the Pelican Inn in Plymouth, where a noisy party 
of jolly sea captains might have been seen at play. There 
were Lord Howard, the Lord High Admiral of England, 
Drake, Hawkins, and other great sailors. 



QUEEN ELIZABETH RALLIES HER TROOPS AT TILBURY 











































































































STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


114 

In the midst of their game there burst in an old sailor, 
shouting: "My lord! my lord! the Spaniards are coming; 
I saw them off the Lizard last night. They’re coming full 
sail, hundreds of them darkening the water.” 

"Then we must go at once,” said Lord Howard, throw¬ 
ing down his bowl. 

"Not a bit of it, my lord,” replied Drake, who was vice 
admiral of the fleet. "There’s plenty of time to finish the 
game and thrash the Spaniards too.” 

Slowly, but proudly, came the great Armada up the 
Channel, the tall sea-castles sailing in a crescent which 
measured seven miles from tip to tip. Drake’s plan was 
not to meet them, but to hang about their rear and pick off 
their ships one by one. "The following game, not the 
meeting one, is our game,” he gleefully whispered to Haw¬ 
kins. "The dog goes after the sheep and not before them, 
my lad. Let them go by, and we’ll stick to them and pick 
up the stragglers.” And the weather-beaten old sea dog 
chuckled heartily to himself. 

For a whole week the Spanish ships sailed up the Chan¬ 
nel toward the Strait of Dover, and at last cast anchor off 
Calais. The English fleet followed it. The English ad¬ 
miral, wishing to scatter them, took six of the oldest vessels 
in his fleet, filled them with pitch, old ropes, tar barrels, 
resin, and other things that would make a good blaze, set 
fire to them, and in the dead of night sent them down be¬ 
fore the wind right into the midst of the Spanish fleet. 


THE "INVINCIBLE ARMADA” 115 

A panic seized the Spanish sailors. Some weighed 
anchor; some cut their cables, hoisted any sail that came 
to hand, ran up against their neighbors and had their rig¬ 
ging entangled; while others got away as best they could. 

The next day three or four English ships closed round 
the great unwieldy floating castles and fired into them 
until they sank beneath the waves. Those that could get 
free were glad to sail away to the north, for the wind was 
blowing right up the Channel, and it was impossible for 
them to return home that way. 

A terrible storm now made sad havoc with the Span¬ 
ish fleet. Scores of vessels were wrecked on the coast of 
France, the Low Countries, Scotland, and Ireland, and the 
dead bodies of the poor sailors strewed many a shore. Of 
all this large fleet only fifty-three shattered vessels re¬ 
turned to Spain to tell their tale of disaster and defeat. 

Such was the fate of the Invincible Armada. Thus ended 
this great attempt to invade and conquer England. The 
sun of Spanish greatness had set; her rule over the seas 
was broken. Philip bore the defeat well. He blamed 
nobody. "I sent you out,” he said, "to fight men, not 
against the winds.” It was not the winds only however 
which saved England but the good seamanship, courage, 
and patriotism of her people. England never really feared 
King Philip again. Queen Elizabeth had medals struck 
with the inscription, "God blew with His wind, and they 
were scattered.” 


n6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

When the news of the defeat of the Armada spread 
through Europe, all men felt a great respect for the brave 
English people and their heroic queen. The English them¬ 
selves were more proud than ever of their good Queen Bess, 
who had trusted them and had spoken so bravely in the 
hour of danger. 

England was now safe from foreign invasion. English 
ships sailed over every sea, increasing the commerce of the 
realm and making the name of England known and feared 
as it had never been known and feared before. 

Reading-Note 

Read selections from Henty’s "Under Drake’s Flag,” a story of 
the great Armada. 


XXVI 


TWO FAMOUS MEN WHO LIVED IN THE DAYS 
OF QUEEN ELIZABETH 

Queen Elizabeth reigned from 1338 to 1603 

In the days of good Queen Elizabeth there were many 
brave and many wise men, whom you may read about 
when you are older. One of the bravest, wisest, and best 
of them was Sir Philip Sidney. He was a daring soldier, as 
well as a scholar and a poet. He was born in a pretty old 
manor house in Kent. If you should ever go there, you 
would see Sir Philip Sidney’s oak, which he planted with 
his own hand. 

Young Sidney was very wise, very polished in his man¬ 
ners, and very generous. Even as a child he was grave and 
thoughtful; and while his teachers found him a quick 
scholar, they were able to learn something from him. When 
he grew up to be a young man he chose as his friends not 
young men like himself, but men who were old enough 
to have been his father. These men, some of them the 
most famous statesmen of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, thought 
Sidney wise beyond his years, and often took his advice 
on very weighty matters. 


Ii8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

Sir Philip was tall and fair and handsome, and had 
such winning ways that no one could help loving him. 
Queen Elizabeth was very fond of him. She called him 
her Philip, and would scarcely let him out of her sight. 
People in far-off lands had heard how good and wise 
Sir Philip was. The men of Poland at one time asked him 
to be their king; but the queen said she could not spare 
him, for he was the " fairest jewel in her crown.” 

When war broke out in Holland, Sir Philip was sent over 
to fight against the enemies of England. In his last battle 
he had two horses shot under him. Then he mounted a 
third horse, and led his men to the charge. Before the 
battle was over, a bullet struck him and broke his thigh. 
Then two of his own soldiers carried Sir Philip on a litter 
slowly to the rear. 

It was plain to see that the brave young soldier was 
dying. His face was deadly pale, his leg was bleeding fast, 
and he was dizzy and faint from loss of blood. His tongue 
was so parched with thirst that he begged for a drink of 
water. A bowl of water was brought to him. He lifted it 
to his mouth and was just going to drink, when a poor sol¬ 
dier, who was also badly hurt, was carried past. The sol¬ 
dier saw the water, and looked at it with longing eyes. 
Sir Philip took the water from his own lips without even 
tasting it, and gave it to the common soldier to drink, say¬ 
ing, "Poor fellow, he needs it more than I do.” This touch¬ 
ing action of a noble heart is perhaps as well known as any 


TWO FAMOUS MEN 


119 

other incident in English history. So delightful is an act of 
true humanity, and so glad is mankind to remember it. 

When Sir Philip died, all England mourned for him. 
His body was brought across the sea and buried in Saint 
Paul’s. 

Now let me tell you of another famous man who lived 
in the days of Queen Elizabeth. One day, as the queen 
was walking down to the river to go on board the royal 
barge, a crowd stood waiting to see her pass. Among them 
was a handsome young man who wore a bright velvet 
cloak. He had pushed his way to the front and was gazing 
at the queen when he saw her stop before a little pool of 
muddy water. 

In an instant he stepped out from the crowd, took off 
his velvet cloak, and spread it on the muddy ground. The 
queen, blushing and smiling, walked over it and passed on. 
It was an affair of a moment, and the crowd scattered as 
quickly as it had gathered. Walter Raleigh, for this was 
the young man’s name, still stood near the riverside with 
the cloak on his arm, when a messenger from the queen 
called him to the royal barge. 

Good Queen Bess, as she is often called, was seated be¬ 
neath an awning in the center of a group of lords and ladies. 

"What is your name?” she asked. 

"May it please your Majesty, my name is Raleigh, and 
my father is of an old but unfortunate family.” 

"You have today,” the queen said, "spoiled a good 


120 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


cloak in our service. Take this jewel/’ she added, handing 
Raleigh a ring in which a diamond shone, "and wear it 
henceforth in memory of this day.” 

Raleigh was not only handsome, but he was brave and 
clever as well. He could do almost anything. He was a 
soldier, sailor, poet, all in one. He beat the Spaniards in 
many a brave fight, both on land and on sea; and he made 
poems and wrote books that you may read when you are 
older. But he loved above all things to sail to far-off coun¬ 
tries and find out new and strange lands. 

Once he sent to America men who brought back some 
potatoes and also tobacco. It was the first time they had 
ever been seen in England. Sir Walter planted his potatoes 
on his own land in Ireland. They grew so well there that 
the people of that country have ever since used potatoes 
as their chief food. 

Raleigh used to smoke his tobacco in a silver pipe. One 
day he was having a quiet smoke, when a servant came into 
his room with a pitcher of water. The servant had never 
seen a man smoking before. When he saw the smoke com¬ 
ing out of his master’s mouth, he threw the full pitcher of 
water into Sir Walter’s face and ran away as fast he 
could, crying out that his master was on fire. 

After the death of Queen Elizabeth, King James the 
First sent Raleigh to the Tower on a charge of treason. 
Thirteen years slowly passed before the chance of freedom 
came. James was fond of money. Raleigh had never lost 


TWO FAMOUS MEN 


12 I 


his love of liberty. If the king would give him freedom 
and fit out a fleet, he said he would return with gold from 
South America. 

The expedition was a failure. The English were beaten 
by the Spaniards, and Sir Walter’s favorite son was killed. 
"My brains,” he wrote, "are broken.” He might have 
added that his heart was also broken. 

His friends urged him never to come home again. Two 
noblemen, however, had offered their lives as surety for 
him when he left England, and he would not buy his life 
at the price of theirs. So he came back to London and to 
the Tower, and was put to death on the scaffold. 

It would make our little book too long if I tried to tell 
you of all the wise and good things done by Queen Eliza¬ 
beth, or if I told you the names of half the famous men who 
lived in her time. Of all the celebrated men of this glorious 
reign, not one is to be compared with Shakespeare, whose 
plays are so widely read and quoted, nor even with Spenser, 
who lived and died in the time of this great queen. 

Reading-Note 

Read Jacob Abbott’s "Life of Queen Elizabeth” and "Mary 
Queen of Scots.” From the Red History Series. 

The incident of Sir Walter Raleigh’s gallant deed is fully described 
in Scott’s "Kenilworth,” chapter xv. In this great historical novel are 
given vivid descriptions of Queen Elizabeth and the great men of 
her time. 


XXVII 


DEATH OF CHARLES THE FIRST 

King Charles the First was executed in the Year 164Q 

There was once a king of England called Charles the 
First, who wanted to have his own way, right or wrong, 
in all things. He thought that because he was king he 
could break the laws and rule the land as he pleased. 

It was a great pity. For Charles was a good man in 
some ways. If he had been just and kind to his people, 
they would have loved him. But he made them pay taxes 
that were quite unjust, and tried to do away with Parlia¬ 
ment and rule the land himself. This was wrong. It was 
going against the rights of the people and against the laws 
of the land. 

Parliament tried to stop him. But it was no use: the 
king would have his way. At last a great civil war broke 
out between the king and Parliament. 

For the most part the nobles and the clergymen were 
on the king’s side. The friends of the king were called 
Cavaliers. They wore their hair long and had fine, gay 
clothes, and were merry, laughing, and jolly when things 
went well with them. 

122 


DEATH OF CHARLES THE FIRST 123 

The friends of Parliament wore short hair and were 
therefore called Roundheads. They were mostly grave, 
earnest men, and very sober in their dress. 

The war lasted for three years. Then Oliver Cromwell, 
a stern, rough man, but the best general on the Parlia¬ 
ment side, defeated the king and broke up his army in a 
great battle at Naseby. 

From that day the poor king was an outcast, and was 
hunted from place to place by CromwelPs soldiers. Many 
a day he had not a morsel to eat; and many a night, hungry 
and footsore, he lay down to sleep in the lonely woods. At 
last he gave himself up. 

But Parliament could not agree what to do with him. 
Most of the members pitied him and wanted to make 
friends with him. But the chief men of the army, who had 
now all the power, had made up their minds that the king 
should die. 

So Cromwell gave orders for Charles to be brought to 
trial for having made war against his people. But neither 
the lords nor the judges of the land would try the king. 
Then Cromwell and his friends set themselves up as judges, 
and sent word to Charles to appear before them in West¬ 
minster Hall. 

The king was led to trial by brutal soldiers, who mocked 
him and pointed their pistols at him as they walked by his 
side. The people on the streets had pity on him, and many 
in the crowd cried out to him as he passed, " God save your 


124 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

Majesty/’ "God keep you from your enemies.” But, alas, 
they could not help the unfortunate king in the day of his 
downfall and misery. 

The trial lasted seven days. Then sentence of death 
was passed on the king, and the soldiers led him to White¬ 
hall. That night, while he lay awake in bed, he heard the 
hammers of the workmen as they drove the nails into the 
scaffold on which he was to die. 

He had only three days to prepare for death and to 
take leave of his children. In those three days he could 
not find time to see his friends. "I hope,” he said, 
"those who love me will not take it ill that they cannot 
come to me. The best thing they can do now is to pray 
for me.” 

On the next day two of the unhappy king’s children 
came to see their father for the last time. They cried and 
cried till their eyes were so swollen that they could hardly 
see. The king did all he could to comfort them, and told 
them that he forgave his enemies and hoped that God too 
would forgive them. Bidding good-by to his little daugh¬ 
ter Elizabeth, who was only twelve years of age, he said, 
"Sweetheart, you will forget this.” 

"No,” she replied, "I will never forget it as long as I 
live.” The poor child died soon after her father. 

Taking his little son Henry, a child of eight, on his 
knee, the king said to him: "My boy, they will cut off thy 
father’s head, and will perhaps make thee a king. But thou 


DEATH OF CHARLES THE FIRST 


125 

must not let them make thee king as long as thy brothers 
Charles and James live. Will you promise me?” 

The little fellow looked up through his tears and said, 
"Yes, father, I promise. I will be torn in pieces first.” 

When morning broke, the morning of the day on which 
the king had to die, snow lay on the ground and on all the 
housetops. The king, on seeing it, put on extra clothing. 
"If I shake with cold,” he thought, "my enemies will say 
I tremble for fear.” When food was placed before him he 
would not touch it. 

But Bishop Juxon, who had been praying with him, 
said, "You have had a long fast and the weather is cold; 
you may faint.” 

"You are right,” replied the king. He took a bit of 
bread and a glass of wine. "Now,” said he, in a cheerful 
voice, "I am ready. Let my enemies come.” 

As the clock tolled one the king was led through an 
open window onto the black scaffold, which faced the 
street. With a clear eye and a calm, proud look on his 
worn but handsome face, the king looked round him. He 
saw nothing but soldiers and pikes and flashing swords. 
The people were afar off and out of all hearing. 

Walking up to the headsman, he pointed to the block. 
"Place it,” he said, "so that it may not shake.” 

"It is quite firm,” said the man. 

"I shall say a short prayer,” said the king. "When I 
thrust my hand out thus—strike.” The king said a prayer 


126 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


to himself, raised his eyes to heaven, and, kneeling down, 
laid his head on the block. A minute passed, Charles put 
out his hand, the ax fell, and the king was dead. 

A groan of pain and horror rose from the vast crowd. 
The soldiers, who had sat on their horses and stood in their 
ranks immovable as statues, were of a sudden all in motion, 
clearing the streets. 

The people pitied King Charles, and admired the cour¬ 
age and dignity with which he faced those last moments. 
After his death pity made them forget his faults, till 
many people come to look on the unfortunate king as 
almost a martyr, 

Reading-Note 

Jacob Abbott’s " Charles the First,” one of the Red History Series. 


XXVIII 


HOW KING CHARLES THE SECOND ESCAPED 
FROM HIS ENEMIES 

Charles the Second reigned from 1660 to 1685 

After the death of Charles the First, his eldest son, 
afterwards Charles the Second, had to face many dangers 
before he came to the throne. Though the English Parlia¬ 
ment was against him, Scotland was on his side; and he 
marched into England at the head of a Scottish army. 

The great leader of the Parliamentary forces, Oliver 
Cromwell, met Charles near Worcester and beat his army 
"from hedge to hedge/’ until he had driven it into the 
town. The Scottish troops were completely routed, and 
Charles himself had to flee for his life. When the day was 
lost, King Charles put spurs to his horse, and, with a few 
friends at his side, rode all night long. 

Cromwell had sent word up and down the country that 
he would give a thousand pounds to any man who would 
take the king or tell where he was, and would cut off the 
head of anyone who dared to give him shelter. So the 
king and his friends rode softly along quiet lanes, keeping 
away from the farms and villages. 

127 


128 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


At the break of day they came to a farm where there 
lived a family of woodcutters by the name of Pendrell. 
The earl of Derby, who was with the king, knew the 
Pendrells well. There were five brothers. They had once 
saved the earl’s life when Cromwell’s soldiers were after 
him, and he knew them to be true to the king. They were 
very poor, but that made no difference. They were brave 
and faithful, and cared neither for Cromwell’s threats nor 
for his gold. The earl went up to Will Pendrell and said 
to him: "Will, here is the king. I can trust him with you. 
Keep him safe.” 

But Cromwell’s men were close at hand, and it was not 
safe for the king to stay in the house. So Will Pendrell 
led him into a wood that was quite near, and told him to 
hide there while he and his brothers kept watch. It rained 
from morning till night, and the king was wet to the skin. 
The kind-hearted woodcutters brought him bread and 
cheese to eat and a thick blanket to sit on. The king sat 
under a tree till it grew quite dark. But he wanted to cross 
the river Severn and get into Wales, thinking he would be 
safer there. 

So Dick Pendrell got the king to put on an old worn 
suit of his and a pair of thick shoes, and stain his hands and 
face with walnut juice, to make him look like a woodman. 
When Charles was ready, Dick went with him to show him 
the way. When they got to the banks of the Severn they 
found that Cromwell’s redcoats had taken away all the 


HOW CHARLES THE SECOND ESCAPED 129 

boats, and that soldiers were pacing up and down the river 
bank to stop the king or any of his party from crossing 
into Wales. 

After hiding all day in a hayloft the king started back 
with Dick Pendrell. They made their way in the dark 
across fields and over hedges and ditches. The king’s 
heavy shoes were too big for him, and got full of sand and 
water. His feet were so sore that he could scarcely crawl 
along. But at last they came back to the Pendrell farm, 
and King Charles hid again in the woods. 

When the king went back into the woods he found 
one of his own officers hiding there, and went up and 
spoke to him. While they were talking they heard the 
clank of swords and the tramp of horses’ feet. The sol¬ 
diers were coming into the woods. What were they to 
do? There was not a moment to lose. A big oak tree 
stood near them, and they climbed up into it and hid 
among the branches. 

It was lucky for them that the leaves grew thick, for 
soon some of Cromwell’s troops came riding by. They 
could hear them say as they looked up and down that they 
were sure the king was near, and it would be a bad job for 
him if they caught him. But they did not catch him. He 
stayed in the tree all day. The Pendrells gave him food 
and brought him a cushion to sit on. The king was very 
tired, as he had had no sleep for two nights. He laid his 
head in the lap of the officer and fell asleep. 


130 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

King Charles stayed at the Pendrell farm for two or 
three days, but there were so many of his enemies about 
that it was not safe for him to stay longer. One of the 
Pendrells went to Colonel Lane, who lived some miles off, 
to see what could be done to get the king away. 

Jane Lane, the colonePs daughter, was going to Bristol; 
so it was agreed that Charles should go with her and act 
as her groom, or manservant. The king put on a suit of 
gray like a serving-man, mounted a strong horse, and took 
Jane Lane behind him on the pillion, as was the custom in 
those days. Then he set out for Bristol in the hope of 
finding a vessel there. 

In the course of their journey the lady stopped for the 
night at the house of a country gentleman. The king, to 
keep up his character of a servant, had to remain in the 
kitchen. The cook bade him wind up the jack on which 
the meat was roasting, but he was very clumsy about it. 

"Where have you come from/’ cried the cook, "that 
you don’t know how to wind up a jack?” 

"Indeed, sir, I am but a poor farmer’s son,” replied the 
young prince. "It is but seldom we see meat at home. 
When we have it we don’t use a jack to roast it.” 

The king had many a narrow escape before he came to 
his journey’s end. One day, when his horse had lost a shoe, 
he had to stop at a blacksmith’s to have it put on. 

The blacksmith said to him: "What news today ? Have 
they caught that rogue, King Charles, yet?” 





KING CHARLES AND CROMWELL S SOLDIERS AT THE INN 

























































I3 2 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


"No,” said Charles, chuckling to himself, "they haven’t 
caught him yet. But when they do catch him I hope 
they’ll cut his head off.” 

"So do I,” said the blacksmith. 

Another time when he came to an inn, he found the 
stable yard full of Cromwell’s soldiers. If he had turned 
back, he would most likely have been found out. He put 
on a bold face and rode his horse right into the midst 
of them. 

"Now then, you stupid fool,” cried the soldiers, "can’t 
you see where you are going?” They little knew that the 
stupid groom was the king of England. 

At last the king escaped in a vessel and reached France 
in safety. He stayed abroad until Cromwell was dead, and 
until his people sent for him to come back home. As he 
rode into London on the 29th of May, his own birthday, 
there was great joy among the people. Most of them wore 
oak leaves in their caps to remind them of the "royal oak” 
that saved King Charles from his enemies. Even yet the 
English people call 

The twenty-ninth of May— 

Royal Oak Day. 

Reading-Note 

Jacob Abbott’s "Life of Charles the Second/’ one of the Red His¬ 
tory Series. 


XXIX 


THE STORY OF THE GREAT PLAGUE IN LONDON 
In the Year 1665 

During the very hot summer of the year 1665, five years 
after Charles the Second came to the throne, a dreadful 
plague broke out in London. The plague had appeared 
in England several times before, and was known by the 
name of the Black Death, but it had never before been 
so fatal. 

The very panic caused the plague to spread, for nothing 
makes people so ready to catch a disease as being afraid 
of it. Another thing which was against the people of Lon¬ 
don was the unsanitary condition of the city. The houses 
were very old, and were built so close together that hardly 
any fresh air could get in between them. Worse still, they 
were very filthy. 

As soon as the plague began, everyone who could afford 
it hastened to leave the town. The roads leading to the 
country were crowded with coaches and foot-passengers, 
while carts and wagons were laden with their goods. Thou¬ 
sands of servants were left behind by their masters. These 
poor creatures, sad and lonely, wandered about in the 

133 


134 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


streets, not knowing where to go. In the panic children ran 
away from their parents, and parents from their children. 

Some who were taken ill died alone without any help. 
Some were stabbed or strangled by hired nurses, who 
robbed them of all their money and stole the very beds 
on which they lay. Some went mad, dropped from the 
windows, ran through the streets, and in their pain and 
frenzy flung themselves into the river. People died by 
thousands, sometimes as many as ten thousand in a week. 

Grass grew in the streets; whole rows of shops were 
shut; and the only business in what were once the busiest 
streets of the city was the sad business of funerals. The 
dead were carried away in carts and emptied into one vast, 
common grave.. At night the dead-cart rumbled through 
the streets, a bell was rung, and the cry resounded mourn¬ 
fully through the hushed and almost silent city: "Bring 
out your dead. Bring out your dead.” 

When any person was seized with the plague the house 
in which he lived was shut up. The door was fastened on 
the outside, and a red cross was painted upon it with the 
words, "Lord, have mercy upon us.” A watchman was set 
to see that no one entered and no one came out. Food 
and water were carried to these houses at fixed times 
every day. 

These were not all the horrors of the time. Some thought 
they saw burning swords and gigantic darts in the sky. 
Others pretended that at night vast crowds of ghosts 



A LONDON STREET AT NIGHT DURING THE GREAT PLAGUE 




























































































136 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

walked round and round the dismal pits where the dead 
were buried in one common grave. 

One madman, carrying a brazier full of burning coals 
upon his head, stalked through the streets crying out that 
he was a prophet sent to declare the vengeance of the Lord 
on wicked London. Another always went to and fro ex¬ 
claiming, " Yet forty days, and London shall be destroyed.” 
A third awoke the echoes in the dismal streets by night and 
by day, and made the blood of the sick run cold, by calling 
out in a deep, hoarse voice, "Oh, the great and dread¬ 
ful God!” 

A good clergyman who refused to leave his parish and 
his people, wrote, "Now the people fall as thick as the 
leaves in autumn when they are shaken by a mighty wind.” 

In September large bonfires were lighted to purify the 
air. It was an odd sight to see those vast fires blazing in 
the middle of the streets night and day. 

As the cold weather set in, the plague by degrees died 
out. The number of deaths began to decrease, the red 
crosses slowly to disappear, the fugitives to return, the 
shops to open again, and pale, frightened faces to be seen 
in the streets. The plague had been in every part of Eng¬ 
land ; but in close, unwholesome London alone more than 
one hundred thousand persons had died. 

By the beginning of the next year the town filled again. 
It must have been a sad home-coming. In many houses 
half of the family was swept away; in some, all had died, 


THE GREAT PLAGUE IN LONDON 


!37 


from the oldest to the youngest. " Never did so many hus¬ 
bands and wives,” says a quaint writer of that day, "die 
together; never did so many parents carry their children 
with them to the grave, and go together into the same house 
under the earth who had lived together in the same house 
upon it.” 

Reading-Note 

For a vivid but imaginary account of the Great Plague, the teacher 
may read to the class a few selections from Defoe’s " History of the 
Great Plague in London.” 


XXX 


THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON 
In the Year 1666 

Now you must know that a little more than two hun¬ 
dred years ago London was a city of narrow and crooked 
streets. The houses were built of wood and thatched with 
straw. They were crowded so close together that persons 
living on one side of the street could almost shake hands 
out of their upper windows with those who lived on the 
other side. This was very unhealthful. But a terrible 
remedy was at hand. 

The summer of 1666 was very dry and very hot, as the 
summer of the plague year had also been. A terrible fire 
broke out on the second of September. It is called the 
Great Fire because never before or since has there been so 
great a fire in England. It broke out in a baker’s shop 
near London Bridge, on the spot where a monument now 
stands as a remembrance of those raging flames. 

A strong east wind was blowing, and the flames spread 
so quickly among the wooden houses that the whole city 
was soon in flames. The fire spread and spread, and burned 
and burned for three days. The nights were lighter than 

138 


THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON 


139 


the days: in the daytime there was a huge cloud of smoke, 
but at night a big tower of fire, mounting up into the sky, 
lighted the whole country for miles and miles around. 

Showers of hot ashes rose into the air and fell in places 
far away; flying sparks carried the fire to various parts of 
the city and kindled it in twenty new spots at a time; 
church steeples fell down with a tremendous crash, and 
houses crumbled into cinders by the hundred and the 
thousand. 

The Londoners who stood on the south side of the river 
Thames saw a great bank of fire about two miles in length 
and one in breadth. The noise, the crackling, the roar and 
thunder of the flames, the fall of houses, towers, and 
churches, the shrieking of women and children, deafened 
the ears as the glowing flames blinded the eye. It looked 
like one awful storm of fire, smoke, and cinders. The air 
was so filled with smoke that the sun shone through it with 
a color like blood. 

The smoke streamed into the country in a black column 
nearly fifty miles long; men in distant parts of the land 
walked along the lanes and the country roads under a dark 
shade; and the rays of the bright autumn sun were shut 
out from the harvest fields. 

Poor people crowded the country roads, hurrying from 
the doomed city; boats and barges full of furniture and 
frightened families covered the river Thames. Looking 
toward the burning houses, they saw their pigeons, of 


140 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

which they were so fond, fly round and round the blazing 
windows where they used to come to be fed, and then fall 
suddenly into the all-devouring flames. 

Thousands upon thousands of houseless men, women, 
and children filled the fields to the north of London. They 
lay on the ground or sat upon any pieces of furniture they 
had been able to save, with hunger and poverty staring 
them in the face, "yet not asking one penny for relief.” 

The fire was stopped by blowing up numbers of houses 
with gunpowder, thus making gaps so large that the flames 
could not overleap them. 

King Charles the Second and his brother, who was after¬ 
wards James the Second, along with some other gentlemen, 
eagerly took charge of this work and spared no pains in 
showing how it must be done. 

The fire raged for three days. When it stopped, it 
was found that Saint Paul's Cathedral, 89 churches, 460 
streets, and 13,200 dwelling houses had been destroyed. 

It was seemingly a great misfortune, but in reality a 
great blessing. The city afterwards arose from its ruins 
very much improved. The dirty, narrow streets had dis¬ 
appeared ; new streets were built, much broader, and more 
open to the healthful influences of the sun and the air. 

Reading-Note 

Selection from Henty’s "When London Burned,” a story of the 
Great Fire. 


XXXI 


THE FLIGHT OF KING JAMES THE SECOND 
James the Second reigned from 1685 to 1689 

James the Second was the last of the four Stuart kings 
of England. Like his father, Charles the First, he was not 
on good terms with his subjects. When he came to the 
throne he made a sacred pledge to abide by the laws of the 
land. The pledge was heartily received by the whole coun¬ 
try. "We have the word of a king” was the cry of the 
people. 

King James was looked upon as narrow, stubborn, and 
despotic in heart, but even his enemies did not accuse him 
of being false. Above all, he was believed to be keenly 
alive to the honor of his country. 

It would be too long a story to tell you of the bitter 
struggle between the king and his unhappy subjects. At 
last the king proved a traitor to the interests of the people 
and of the nation. He was hated and despised by both his 
friends and his enemies for his many cruel and tyrannical 
acts. Good and true men of all parties thought it to be for 
the best interest of the nation to get rid of their arro¬ 
gant king. 

141 


142 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


After the struggle had gone on for some time they sent 
a' message to a Dutch prince, William of Orange, who had 
married Mary, the daughter of James himself, asking him 
to come over and be their king. 

William at once collected a large fleet, and with a strong 
army landed at a little port in the south of Devonshire. 
He had previously issued an address to the people, saying 
that he was coming to protect their religious and civil 
liberties. 

When the news of William’s landing reached London 
the friends and favorites, and even the children of James, 
fled from their royal master. First his nephew, then his 
son-in-law, and then his second daughter, Annie, deserted 
him. When James heard the news that his daughter had 
fled from his palace, he burst into tears and exclaimed: 
" God help me. Even my own children have forsaken me.” 

William was slowly and steadily marching on to Lon¬ 
don with his troops. At length James saw there was no 
hope left, and that the time had come when he must flee. 
First of all he sent away his wife. About three in the 
morning the queen, carrying her infant child in her arms, 
went down the river stairs of Whitehall Palace and got into 
a small boat. It was a dark and dismal night in December. 
The rain poured in torrents, the Thames was swollen with 
a high tide, and a strong wind was blowing. But at length 
the boat reached the pier at Lambeth. 

The coach that had been ordered was not ready. The 


THE FLIGHT OF KING JAMES THE SECOND 143 

queen was afraid to go into the inn where her face might 
be known, so she crouched under the tower of Lambeth 
Church for shelter from the storm. The baby was well 
wrapped up, warm and cozy, and so did not cry. At last 
the coach was ready, and the queen was driven to Graves¬ 
end, where she found a vessel in which to escape to France. 

Louis the Fourteenth, the king of France, received her 
kindly and gave her a palace for her dwelling and a yearly 
sum of money to live on. Eight days after the queen’s 
escape, James also left Whitehall and made his way, after 
some wonderful escapes, to the shores of France. Louis 
received him also kindly. 

The two kings went together to Queen Mary’s room. 
Stopping at the door, the French king bowed kindly, and 
said to her, "Here is a gentleman, cousin, whom you will 
be very glad to see.” 

James never again set foot in England. With him ended 
the reign of the Stuarts. He foolishly thought himself 
above the law. This wrong notion had cost his father his 
head, as it now cost James himself his crown. 

When it was found that the king had fled, the Prince of 
Orange called a Parliament, and after some time it was 
agreed that the flight of King James had made the throne 
of England vacant. It was then offered to William and his 
wife, Mary. 

This event in English history is known as the Revolu¬ 
tion of 1688. 


XXXII 


THE FAMOUS SIEGE OF LONDONDERRY 
In the Year 1689 

When William, Prince of Orange, was made king of 
England in 1688, most of the Irish people remained true 
to the old king, James the Second. A bitter war broke out 
between the followers of William and those of James. One 
of the most stirring events in this war was the siege of 
Londonderry. 

Londonderry, or Derry, as it is often called, is a fine sea¬ 
port town in the north of Ireland. It stands on the bank 
of a river up which the tide flows from the outer sea. The 
people of the town were of English and Scotch descent. 
They took sides with William and Mary. William was at 
this time too busy elsewhere to come to Ireland. His fol¬ 
lowers in that country had, therefore, to do the best they 
could for themselves. 

The king of France had sent James both money and 
officers to drill his army, and James had made up his mind 
to get back his kingdom of Ireland. If he gained that, he 
might then try for England. 

James and his army marched on Londonderry. The 

144 


THE FAMOUS SIEGE OF LONDONDERRY 145 

governor of the town, whose name was Lundy, had no hope 
of being able to hold out. The defenses of the place were 
almost in ruins. The walls were overgrown with grass and 
weeds, there were no ramparts that could keep out an 
enemy, and the towers and forts were too weak to stand 
the fire of cannon. 

There were no regular soldiers in the place. The supply 
of firearms was short, and the townspeople were not used 
to military drill. They had very few pieces of cannon. 
The few they had were in bad prder, and they had scarcely 
any man who knew how to serve them. Worst of all, they 
were short of provisions. 

The governor thought the only thing to be done was to 
give up the town. But the townspeople did not agree with 
him. Led by a good old clergyman, they declared that they 
were ready to die rather than give in; and they at once 
began to put the defenses of the town in better order. 

When King James appeared with his army, he marched 
up to within a hundred yards of the town, expecting to be 
able to walk in at once and without fighting. But he was 
met with cries of "No surrender” and with a shot from 
a cannon which made him get out of the way in haste. 

The people were so angry with the governor that they 
would have torn him to pieces. He was for some time in 
great danger, but the good clergyman helped him to get 
away. He left the place by night, climbing down the town 
wall by the branches of a pear tree. 


146 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


For nine days a constant fire of cannon was kept up 
against the city. Then James, thinking the time was come, 
ordered his men to march in. But the brave citizens would 
not let them. They lined the wall in three ranks. Those 
behind loaded the muskets of those in front; the women 
handed their brothers, fathers, and husbands powder and 
shot. All fought so well that they beat back the forces of 
James at every point. 

James was in a terrible rage with the people of the town. 
"Very well/ 7 he cried, "if we cannot beat them, we can 
starve them out. 77 No food could now be sent into London¬ 
derry. Ships from England laden with food, soldiers, and 
powder and shot had come to the mouth of the river on 
which the town stands. But the enemy had placed cannon 
on both banks and had also blocked the channel with a 
boom made of logs and iron chains to prevent the ships 
from sailing up. 

The people were soon brought to a fearful state. Most 
of them became mere skin and bone, with sunken cheeks 
and hollow eyes. They ate dogs, cats, rats, horses, and 
tallow. They even gnawed and sucked hides for some little 
nourishment. Grain was doled out by mouthfuls, and rats 
were taken in traps and eaten. The price of a dog’s 
paw was five shillings; an old shoe was looked upon as a 
good dinner. If a man caught a fish in the river, he would 
not sell it for money; he would take nothing but food 
in exchange. 


THE FAMOUS SIEGE OF LONDONDERRY 


147 


No one spoke of giving in. The weaker died so fast 
that they could not be buried. No one was strong enough 
to dig their graves. And yet no one spoke of yielding. Still 
the people called out from the walls, "No surrender.” 

At last when the poor people of the town were brought 
to their last scrap of food, three of King William’s vessels 
made their way up the river. One of them broke the boom, 
and the other two passed safely through the breach. 

It was ten o’clock at night when the ships arrived at the 
wharves. And what a scene was there! All the people of 
the town were gathered to see the unloading of the ships. 
What cheers! What thankful prayers! What joyful sobs 
were heard as the sailors rolled on shore barrels of Scotch 
meal, casks of beef, kegs of butter, sacks of peas and bis¬ 
cuit, huge cheeses, and flitches of bacon. 

James and his army now saw that it was a hopeless 
task to try to take a town defended by people so coura¬ 
geous and so enduring under suffering. They therefore 
marched off. 

The next morning the townspeople saw, instead of the 
white tents of the Irish army, scores of blazing bonfires 
reddening all the air. Then all were filled with gladness; 
they rushed to the church bells and rang out loud and 
merry peals of joy for the freedom that had at last come 
to them. 


XXXIII 


BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE’S ESCAPE 
In the Year 1746 

When the little baby, the son of James the Second, who 
was carried off by his mother from Whitehall that dark 
December night, grew to be a man, he made an attempt to 
get back the crown which his father had lost. But he did 
not succeed. 

His son also tried, and he too failed. The son of James 
the Second is known as the Old Pretender; his grandson, 
as the Young Pretender. The name of the Old Pretender 
was Prince James; that of the Young Pretender was Prince 
Charles Edward or, as the Scotch called him, " Bonnie 
Prince Charlie.” 

The hopes of Prince Charlie were ruined in the crushing 
defeat which he suffered on the field of Culloden in 1746. 
He had to flee for his life. He wandered up and down the 
Highlands of Scotland; and although his hiding-places 
were known to hundreds of persons, and though the large 
reward of thirty thousand pounds had been offered to 
anyone who would give him up, no man even thought 
of pointing a finger to his hiding-place. 

148 


BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE’S ESCAPE 149 

Many shielded the poor prince at the risk of their own 
lives; and after five months of wandering he escaped safely 
to France. During these weary months he had endured 
many hardships, cold, hunger, and fatigue. Though con¬ 
stantly in danger, he showed himself brave and cheerful. 
This is one reason why the Scotch people loved him so well. 

He was hunted by soldiers night and day, as if he were 
a wild beast; and he had to be always moving from place 
to place. Sometimes he would snatch a few hours’ sleep in 
a cowshed, on a heap of dirty straw; at other times he 
would sleep in a cave, or even on the open hillside. His 
food was of the coarsest kind, served in the iron kettle in 
which it had been cooked. Out of it he and his followers 
ate in company, the prince being the only one who had a 
silver spoon. One day all he could get was a mixture of 
oatmeal and sea water. 

Hunger, illness, wet and rough weather sorely changed 
the handsome looks of the gay young prince. A Scottish 
poet sang of him: 

On hills that are by right his own 
He roams a lonely stranger; 

On every hand he’s pressed by want, 

On every side by danger. 

One morning Prince Charlie shot a deer, and his faithful 
follower Burke cooked some steaks cut from it. A poor 
starved boy who chanced to pass snatched up one of the 
steaks, and Burke gave him a heavy blow on the head. 


150 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

Charles turned to his follower and said: "Ned, you don’t 
remember the Scriptures. They tell us to feed the hungry 
and clothe the naked. You ought to give him a meal rather 
than a blow.” 

It was when hiding in the west of Scotland that he met 
Flora Macdonald, a brave and gentle lady whose home was 
in the island of Skye. Prince Charlie was by this time in 
a wretched condition. When Flora saw him she wept. She 
promised to be his guide to Skye, and obtained from her 
father a safe conduct for herself and an Irish girl, Betty 
Burke. 

Next morning the prince was dressed as Betty Burke, 
and in this disguise he set out on his journey with his com¬ 
panion. All night they rowed through a wild storm to 
Skye ; but a greater danger awaited them on shore. Flora 
went alone to the castle of a friendly nobleman to seek 
help for the prince. There she found a party of soldiers 
who were searching for the Pretender, but with the help 
of friends he reached a place of safety. 

If it had not been for the risk they ran, his friends 
would have been amused by the mistakes made by the 
prince in his character of Betty Burke. Once when cross¬ 
ing a stream, he lifted the skirts of his dress; next time he 
forgot it and let his dress float in the water. When the 
country people curtsied to the party, the prince bowed 
instead of curtsying in return. "You are the worst Pre¬ 
tender,” said a friend, "that I ever saw.” 


BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE’S ESCAPE 151 

In a few days Flora Macdonald bade farewell to the 
prince, and never saw him again. Prince Charlie returned 
to France, but never again to Scotland. 

The love of those who served him, however, did not die, 
even when all hope of his return was gone. Long after¬ 
wards his memory was cherished, and many a stirring song 
is still sung of " Bonnie Prince Charlie.” The following 
lines are an example of this devoted loyalty to a hopeless 
cause: 

Over the water, and over the sea, 

And over the water to Charlie; 

Come weal, come woe, we’ll gather and go, 

And live or die with Charlie. 

This was the last attempt of the Stuart line to regain 
the throne of their fathers; and when in 1788 the unfortu¬ 
nate prince died in Rome, the ill-fated house of Stuart 
disappeared from history. 

Reading-Note 

A book by Andrew Lang, known as "Pickle the Spy, or The 
Incognito of the Prince Charles,” is full of curious information about 
this interesting episode in English history. 

Selections from Henty’s "Bonnie Prince Charlie.” 


XXXIV 


THE BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA 
In the Year 1756 

About a hundred and sixty years ago Great Britain had 
little power in India. The native rulers and princes could 
do pretty much as they pleased. 

There was in the year 1756 a native prince who ruled 
over Bengal and some neighboring countries. This prince 
took offense at the English in India, marched to Calcutta 
at the head of a large army, and laid siege to the fort. The 
fort of Calcutta was held by a commander named Holwell, 
who, with the aid of a few brave officers and a small but 
active body of troops, kept it against the large army of 
the Indian prince. 

At length, however, the brave commander had to give 
it up. The prince promised on the word of a soldier that 
no harm should be done either to him or to any of his of¬ 
ficers, his men, or their wives. In spite of his promise, one 
hundred and forty-six English residents, one of whom was 
a woman, were driven at the point of the bayonet into a 
small prison meant to hold only a few persons. It is known 
in history by the name of the Black Hole. 


THE BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA 


i S 3 

This prison was a room less than twenty feet square, 
with two small windows barred with iron. Through these 
little fresh air could enter. It was summer, and the night 
was close and sultry. Many of the prisoners were wounded, 
and all of them were worn out with hard work. When they 
saw that the Indian prince had broken his vow, and that 
they were in danger of dying for want of fresh air, they 
were filled with rage. 

They tried to open the door, that they might rush upon 
the swords of the Indian soldiers who stood guard outside. 
But the door opened inward, and the crowd inside pressed 
upon it. Mr. Holwell, who was standing at one of the win¬ 
dows, spoke to a sergeant of the Indian guard and offered 
him two hundred pounds, or one thousand dollars in our 
money, if he would place half of them in another room. 
The soldier was eager for the reward and promised to do 
what he could. But in a few minutes he returned and told 
him that the prince was asleep, and that no one dared to 
go near him. 

A fearful sweat now broke out on everyone, and this 
was followed by a terrible thirst. The poor creatures 
stripped themselves of their clothes, sat down on the floor, 
and fanned with their hats. But many were unable to rise 
again and were trodden or choked to death. Everyone 
was gasping for a breath of fresh air. 

All wished for death to put an end to their sufferings. 
They shouted insults to the Indian guards to provoke them 


154 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


to fire upon them. When this was in vain, the cry of 
"Water! water!” rose from every mouth. The Indian 
sergeant ordered some skins of water to be brought to the 
window. Some went mad at the very sight of it. There 
was no other way of passing it through the windows to the 
poor wretches than by hats. Many fought to get near the 
windows, and the weaker of them were soon trampled to 
the ground, never to rise again. 

In the morning, when the prison door was opened, one 
hundred and twenty-three persons lay dead. Only twenty- 
three remained alive. Pale as corpses, weak, withered, 
sunken-eyed, these twenty-three persons staggered forth 
from their foul and awful prison. Men of thirty looked 
like old men of eighty, for the hours they had spent among 
the dying and dead seemed like years of misery to the 
survivors of this most cruel deed. 

Some months later the famous Lord Clive avenged this 
terrible crime. The army of the cruel prince was routed 
in the battle of Plassey with great slaughter. That victory 
made the English masters of Bengal and laid the founda¬ 
tion of British rule over the vast Indian Empire. 

Reading-Note 

Selections from Henty’s "With Clive in India,” a story of the 
Black Hole of Calcutta. 

The teacher should read to the pupils the celebrated passage from 
Macaulay’s essay on "Lord Clive,” beginning "Now was committed 
that great crime,” etc. 


XXXV 


THE BRAVE LORD NELSON 
The Battle of Trafalgar was fought in the Year 1805 

Over a hundred years ago there was a great war be¬ 
tween England and France. Many of the battles were 
fought at sea. England had good ships and brave sailors 
and bold captains in plenty, but the best sailor and the 
boldest captain of them, all was Lord Horatio Nelson. 

When he first went to sea, at twelve years of age, he 
was a wee bit of a lad; but he was full of pluck and spirit, 
and never knew what it was to be afraid. He sailed all 
over the world before he was a man, and when war broke 
out he was made captain of a man of war. He fought and 
beat the French in many a brave sea fight. 

In one battle this brave officer lost an eye; in another 
he lost an arm. Although he had but one eye and one arm 
he was always the first in the fight and the last out. He 
never would give in. 

At the battle of Copenhagen two of his ships ran 
aground. Admiral Parker, who had command of the fleet, 
thought Nelson had no chance of winning, so he hung 
out the signal to "stop fighting.” But Nelson took no 

155 


156 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


heed of it. His one eye danced with glee as the guns 
roared and ropes and bits of timber flew through the air. 
When a shot struck the mast of his own ship and broke 
it to bits, he only said: " Warm work this. But I wouldn’t 
be out of it for all the world.” 

Someone told him that the signal was up to "stop fight¬ 
ing.” He laughed; and, putting the glass to his blind eye, 
he said: "I don’t see the signal. Keep mine flying for 
closer battle. Nail it to the mast.” He kept on fighting 
till he won the battle. For his great victory he was made 
lord admiral of the fleet. 

Nelson’s last fight was at Trafalgar, off the coast of 
Spain. A great fleet of French and Spanish ships was on 
its way to England. The French hoped to sweep the Eng¬ 
lish ships from the seas and to land a French army on the 
coast of England. But Nelson went out to fight them, and 
came up with them in Trafalgar Bay. He made ready at 
once for battle, knowing that if he won it England would 
be saved. He felt sure of victory. Yet he could not help 
thinking that he would lose his own life before the day 
was over. 

When Captain Blackwood, who came for orders, left to 
go back to his ship, Nelson shook hands with him and said, 
"God bless you, Blackwood, I shall never see you again.” 

Before the battle began, Nelson hung out his last famous 
signal, "England expects every man to do his duty.” The 
sailors in answer gave a ringing British cheer. 


THE BRAVE LORD NELSON 


r 57 


Nelson’s ship was called the Victory. It was stationed 
in the hottest part of the battle. He wore his admiral’s 
coat, with all his medals and crosses on his breast. His 
officers asked him to take them off, saying that if the 
French saw them they would be sure to fire at him. But 
Nelson would not. "No,” he said, "in honor I won them, 
and in honor I will die with them.” 

In the midst of the battle, when every man was sure of 
victory, a bullet from a French ship struck Nelson in the 
back, and he fell face forward on the deck. Captain Hardy 
was soon at his side. 

"Hardy,” said Nelson, "they have done for me at last.” 

"I hope not,” said Hardy. 

"Yes,” replied Nelson, "my backbone is shot through.” 

They carried him below, while the battle still went on. 
After a while Hardy went below and found Nelson waiting 
eagerly to hear the news of the battle. ^ 

"Well, Hardy,” said the admiral, "how goes the day 
with us?” 

"Very well,” said Hardy. "Ten of the French ships 
have struck their colors.” 

When he found that all went well, the dying admiral 
spoke of himself. "Hardy,” he said, "I am a dead man. 
I am going fast.” 

Hardy went on deck again, but came back at the end of 
an hour, and told Nelson that fifteen ships had been taken. 

"That is well,” said Nelson. 


158 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

Then he took Hardy’s hand and said to him in a low 
voice: "Don’t throw me overboard. Kiss me.” Hardy 
knelt down and kissed him. 

"Now,” said Nelson, "I am satisfied. God bless you, 
Hardy. Thank God, I have done my duty.” 

These were his last words. The battle had been won, 
and England was safe. As brave a man as ever lived had 
gone to his rest. 


Reading-Note 

Read select passages from Southey’s "Life of Nelson” describing 
some of the incidents and anecdotes in the career of England’s greatest 
admiral. Read also in the same book the account of Nelson’s death, 
a masterly piece of English prose. 


XXXVI 


THE IRON DUKE AND THE BATTLE OF 
WATERLOO 

The Battle of Waterloo was fought in the Year 1815 

While the brave Lord Nelson was fighting England’s 
battles at sea, there was another, as great as he, fighting 
her battles on land. This was Arthur Wellesley, after¬ 
wards made duke of Wellington, and sometimes called the 
Iron Duke. He was born in Ireland and educated at Eton, 
but he spent some time in a French military college learn¬ 
ing the art of war. 

His French masters, who taught him how to fight, little 
thought they were teaching him to defeat all their best 
generals. But so it proved. After winning great fame in 
India, Wellesley was sent out to Spain, where he won 
many victories over the French, beating all Napoleon’s 
most famous generals and driving his army back over the 
Pyrenees. 

The most famous battle that Wellington ever won was 
the battle of Waterloo, which was fought near Brussels in 
Belgium. Here he faced Napoleon himself. It was the 
first and last time that Wellington and Napoleon ever 

159 


160 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

met. The French emperor was eager to crush the man 
who had beaten his generals, and said with joy, as he 
marched toward Belgium, "I go to measure swords with 
Wellington.” 

When Wellington drew up his troops on a green hill- 
slope, with a great forest in the rear, Napoleon thought 
he had caught him in a trap, and cried out in high glee, 
"Now I have him.” He little knew the man he had to 
deal with. 

On the forenoon of Sunday, June 18, 1815, when the 
church bells were ringing in England, a long, loud peal 
from the French cannon broke the Sabbath stillness of 
Waterloo. Then began that battle of heroes which lasted 
till sunset. Again and again did the French rush forward 
to the attack, and again and again were they driven back. 

The English, who were drawn up to a large extent in 
squares, seemed rooted to the earth like masses of rock. 
Time after time the deadly fire from the French guns 
would make bloody gaps in their ranks; but at the stern, 
steady cry "Close up!” the men in the rear would take 
the places of their fallen comrades. Then the French 
horsemen, with steel breastplates and flying plumes, would 
come sweeping down upon the squares, only to be shot 
down or hurled back again from a living hedge of steel. 

Wellington, on his famous horse Copenhagen, rode from 
post to post, cheering his men and bidding them "stand 
your ground to the last man.” When he saw the French 


THE IRON DUKE AND WATERLOO 161 

horsemen rushing up to a square that had been terribly 
cut up, he called out: "Stand firm, my lads! What will 
they say of this in England! ” Wherever danger was, there 
was Wellington to be found. As the shots fell thick about 
him, he coolly remarked, "They shoot better than they 
did in Spain.” 

When he saw the French guns making such havoc 
among his squares, he quietly said: "Hard pounding, gen¬ 
tlemen! We shall see who can pound the longest.’’ The 
men were eager to be led against the French, and some of 
the Irish regiments began to murmur. Wellington quieted 
them, and said, "Not yet, lads; wait a little longer.” 

At one time during the day, when the battle seemed 
doubtful, and the best and bravest were falling thick and 
fast, some of his officers would have lost heart, but Welling¬ 
ton kept up their spirits. "Never mind,” he said to them, 
"we’ll win this battle yet.” At last, when it was near sun¬ 
set, Napoleon ordered his old guards, who had never yet 
been beaten, to charge the English and make one last effort 
to win the day. 

Wellington, who saw them coming on, placed his own 
guards four deep in a ditch behind the slope and waited 
in silence for the charge. When the French gained the 
ridge they saw only Wellington and his staff. But the next 
moment they heard a voice,—it was the duke’s,—like the 
shrill blast of a trumpet, cry, "Up guards, and at them!” 
From the ground there started up, as if by magic, a long 


162 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


line of redcoats, who poured a deadly volley into the French 
and then rushed at them with cold steel. 

As the French gave way and fled down the hill, Welling¬ 
ton gave the order along the whole line for his army to 
advance. With a cheer that struck fear into the hearts of 
the French, the English, who had stood still all day to 
be shot at, now sprang gladly forward. Soon the whole 
French army was fleeing in hopeless rout. 

There are many stories of brave deeds done on the field 
of Waterloo. In one of the terrible cavalry charges the 
Highlanders were ordered to fall back, when the sergeant 
who bore the colors was shot dead and fell into a ditch. 
The French horse were rushing down upon them, and in 
another moment the colors of the regiment might have 
fallen into their hands. 

A stalwart Highlander who saw the danger leaped into 
the ditch to take the colors from the dead man’s hands. 
But it was in vain; the sergeant even in death held his 
colors with a grip of iron. There was not a moment to lose. 
The Highlander did not hesitate. Taking up his comrade, 
flag and all, he lifted him on to his back and made off 
with him just as the French horsemen reached the ditch. 

The captain of the French cavalry, seeing the brave 
deed,, shouted to his men, "Halt! ” Every man of the troop 
reined in his horse and sat looking at the gallant High¬ 
lander. As the brave fellow made off with the colors, they 
cheered him with a wild hurrah, shouting "Bravo, Scot!” 


THE IRON DUKE AND WATERLOO 163 

On one of the slopes of Waterloo there was an old farm¬ 
house with a hedge and an orchard around it. Wellington 
ordered his troops to hold this farm at any cost; but the 
French swarmed round about it and set fire to the hedges 
and orchard, and at last the brave defenders ran short of 
powder and ball. 

What was to be done? If the poor fellows could not 
have powder and shot, how could they hold their ground 
against the French? Two wagons filled with cartridges 
were set off at once to the farm. But the hedge was still 
burning; and as the first wagon with its driver crashed 
through it, the powder took fire, and horse, wagon, and 
driver were blown into atoms. The driver who rode the 
horse in the second wagon was a young country lad who 
had only just joined the army. He soon showed what stuff 
he was made of. He spurred his horse into a gallop, burst 
through the burning hedge, and landed the powder wagon 
safely on the other side. " It was bravely done,” said Well¬ 
ington when he heard of it. "If that lad lives out this day 
I will make him an officer.” But when the day was done 
that brave country lad lay dead behind the farmyard wall. 

Not long after this terrible and decisive battle Napoleon 
gave himself up to the English. 

Reading-Note 

Read "Waterloo,” a selection from Byron’s "Childe Harold.” 

Selections from Henty’s "One of the 28th,” a tale of Waterloo. 


XXXVII 


TWO GREAT INVENTORS 

About the middle of the last century a little boy in 
Scotland used to be scolded by his aunt for meddling with 
the kitchen teakettle. He would hold down the lid when 
the water boiled, or he would take off the lid and put it on 
again. Again, he would hold a silver spoon over the steam 
as it puffed out of the spout and watch it turning into drops 
of water. All this made the boy wonder what produced the 
force that lifted the cover of the kettle and made it rattle. 

His aunt thought this was not safe work for a boy. 
Besides, it was a great waste of time. Had he no lessons 
to learn? Had he no books to read? Could he not find 
something to do that would be more useful? Such idle 
habits could lead to nothing good. 

This idler, this dreamer, was James Watt, who by and 
by gave to the world the steam engine in a form that was 
fitted for everyday use. There were crude steam engines 
before Watt’s time, but he improved them so much that 
he is commonly called the inventor of the steam engine. 
He got his first notions of the power of steam from his 
aunt’s teakettle. 


164 


TWO GREAT INVENTORS 


165 

When he grew up, Watt settled in Glasgow. A small 
engine was sent to him for repair. He spent some time on 
it, only to discover its faults. At best it was but a toy, and 
was of little or no real use. 

Watt resolved to make a useful steam engine. He 
spent ten years on it, years of planning and experimenting, 
years of doubt and fear, of distress and poverty, but also 
of hope and high courage. At last he succeeded to the 
utmost that he could have wished. Then he met with a 
rich merchant who saw the value of the invention, and 
joined with Watt in setting up near Birmingham the first 
great engine factory in the world. 

The story is told that once upon a time Watt took a 
working model of his engine to show to the king of England. 
His Majesty said to him, "Well, my man, what have you to 
sell ? ” The inventor promptly replied, "What kings covet, 
may it please your Majesty—power.” The story is per¬ 
haps too good to be true, but the fact that Watt furnished 
the world with a "power” far-reaching in its results cannot 
be denied. 

The effect of the invention of the engine on mining and 
manufactures was enormous. The brains of other men 
were busily planning all sorts of things in order to take 
advantage of it to the utmost. 

Within twenty years after Watt had finished his engine, 
Arkwright had made his spinning machine, Crompton had 
invented his spinning jenny, and Cartwright’s power-loom 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


166 

weaving machine had started the cotton manufacture on 
its wonderful career. Other inventions followed, and in 
course of time England was called the workshop of the 
world. 

But the greatest use of the steam engine is in vessels 
and railroads. The first steamship in Great Britain was 
the Comet , which plied on the river Clyde in 1812, al¬ 
though Robert Fulton in this country had invented a 
steamboat in 1807. The first successful "steam horse/’ 
or locomotive engine, in the world was made by George 
Stephenson, who also planned and made the first public 
railroads ever built in England or in the world. 

George Stephenson was the son of a poor collier in the 
north of England. When a young man he became a fire¬ 
man like his father. He taught himself mathematics during 
the night shifts; and when he could snatch a few moments 
in the time allowed for meals during the day, he worked 
his problems with a bit of chalk upon the sides of the 
colliery wagons. 

Stephenson had a wonderful genius for machine-making, 
and very soon he became master of the steam engine. He 
became famous in his neighborhood as an "engine doctor.” 
When anything went wrong with a steam engine, George 
Stephenson was the man to put it right. While he was 
engineer at a colliery near Newcastle the idea occurred to 
him of making a "steam horse” to draw the cars of coal 
from the pit to the wharf where ships were loaded. 






GEORGE STEPHENSON’S LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE, CALLED 
THE ROCKET 





















168 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

He tried and tried and tried again, and at last in 1814 
succeeded in making an engine. Because it made such a 
noise it was popularly known as Puffing Billy. It was 
a rude and clumsy piece of work. Fifteen years later 
Stephenson turned out the Rocket , which ran at the rate 
of twenty-five or even thirty-five miles an hour. 

This invention began a new era in the world’s history. 
From it dates the marvelous spread of railroads over Great 
Britain, over the continents of Europe and America, and, 
indeed, over the world. It has brought distant countries 
together and has increased a hundredfold the knowledge 
and comfort of mankind. 

We must remember that these great blessings have been 
the result of victories won not by conquerors on the battle¬ 
field, but by heroes of peace, the Scotchman James Watt 
and the Englishman George Stephenson. 


XXXVIII 


HOW VICTORIA BECAME QUEEN OF GREAT 
BRITAIN 

Victoria became Queen in the Year 1837 

King William the Fourth died in the year 1837, without 
leaving any children. The nearest heir to the throne of 
England was his niece, a young princess named Victoria. 
She was the daughter of the duke of Kent. When William 
the Fourth died, it became the duty of two noblemen to go 
to the young princess and tell her that she was now queen 
of the British Empire. 

Accordingly, two men of high rank drove from Windsor 
to Kensington Palace, where the young princess was living. 
They left Windsor at half past two o’clock in the morning 
of the 20th of June, and did not reach Kensington till five. 
It was still early, and not a soul was stirring. They knocked 
and rang for a long time before they were able to rouse 
the porter at the palace gate. 

When at length they had awakened him, the gate was 
opened; but they were still kept waiting in the courtyard. 
Then they were shown into one of the lower rooms. No 
one came near them for some time, and they seemed to 

have been forgotten by everybody. At length they rang 

169 


170 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

the bell. When the servant came they asked him to let the 
Princess Victoria know that they wished to see her on 
business of the greatest importance. 

Again they were left for some time, and again they 
rang. One of the ladies of the palace came to them. She 
told them that the princess was in such a sweet sleep that 
she could not venture to disturb her. To this they replied, 
"We are come on business of state to the princess, and 
even her sleep must give way to that.” 

The princess was roused. She at least did not keep the 
gentlemen waiting. For in a few minutes she came down 
to them, in a loose white dress and shawl, her hair falling 
over her shoulders, tears in her eyes, but perfectly calm. 
She was told the news. It was a great grief to her to hear 
of the death of her uncle; it was no joy to know that the 
crown of Great Britain was now her own. 

The king died at twenty minutes past two in the morn¬ 
ing, and the young queen met her council in Kensington 
Palace at eleven. She was quite plainly dressed and in 
mourning. Nothing could have been better than her calm 
and kind manner. She was only a girl of eighteen, and 
everyone was eager to know how she would behave. 

On entering the council room she bowed to the lords, 
took her seat, and read her speech in a clear, distinct voice. 
There was no sign of fear or hurry in her face or in her 
manner. When her two uncles, both old men, knelt before 
her, she blushed up to the eyes. Her manner to them was 


HOW VICTORIA BECAME QUEEN 171 

very graceful and engaging. She kissed them both, rose 
from her chair, and walked up to the duke of Sussex, who 
was farthest from her and too weak to go to her. 

The duke of Wellington, whom we have just read of 
as the "Iron Duke/’ said, in his blunt way, that if she had 
been his own daughter he could not have desired to see 
her do her part better. 

The people soon came to be very fond of their girl 
queen. No sovereign of Britain has ever ruled better than 
Queen Victoria, nor has the vast empire of Britain ever 
been more prosperous than it was under her rule. 

A year after she came to the throne she was publicly 
crowned at Westminster Abbey. All the great officers of 
state were there, and so were the noblemen of England and 
many famous strangers. The walls were hung with crim¬ 
son cloth with gold edges, and many of the people were 
splendidly dressed. It was a gorgeous spectacle. 

When the crown was placed on the young queen’s head, 
all shouted, "God save the Queen!” Hats and handker¬ 
chiefs were waved, trumpets were blown, and signals were 
made so that guns might be fired in different parts of 
London. For some days afterward there was great 
rejoicing, and all the people showed how fond they were 
of their new sovereign. 

Queen Victoria was very fond of Balmoral Castle, her 
summer home in Scotland. She lived there in a very simple 
and homely way. She was very kind to the people who 


172 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


lived in the cottages near the Castle. She often visited 
them and when they were sick she took them dainties that 
would do them good. 

The great queen died in January, 1901. Never in the 
history of England had there been such a funeral. The 
ships of all nations lowered their flags, the great princes 
of Europe reverently followed the coffin on the gun- 
carriage. Thousands of people waited for hours in the 
cold winter morning, amid the deep silence, to watch the 
long sad procession pass through the streets of London. 
Queen Victoria was never more beloved than she was at 
the time of her death. 


Reading-Note 

Read selections from Eva March Tappan’s "In the Days of Queen 
Victoria.” 


XXXIX 


HOW THEY FOUGHT IN THE CRIMEA 
From 1854 t° i %56 

Almost seventy years ago Russia picked a quarrel with 
Turkey and forced her to fight. The English and the 
French came to the help of the Turks, and sent an army to 
the Crimea, a part of Russia which runs out into the Black 
Sea, and which is very near Turkey. The two armies met 
for the first time on the banks of the river Alma. 

Here a great battle was fought. The French and the 
English dashed into the stream and crossed it, in spite of 
the terrible hail of Russian bullets which poured from the 
heights, and which, says an eyewitness, "whipped the 
water of the river into foam.” The heights were taken, 
and the Russians, driven away, fell back upon Sebastopol. 

The siege of Sebastopol, one of the strongest fortresses 
in the world, now began. The allies seized the port of 
Balaklava, and there they landed men and arms and all 
kinds of supplies. The Russians tried to drive them out. 
The battle of Balaklava was fought, in which the famous 
charge of the Light Brigade was made. A wrong order was 
given, but nobody knows to this day who made the mistake. 

173 


174 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


The six hundred men of the Light Brigade were told to 
make a charge right up to the mouth of the Russian cannon. 

Half a league, half a league, 

Half a league onward, 

All in the valley of Death 
Rode the six hundred. 

"Forward, the Light Brigade! 

Charge for the guns! ” he said; 

Into the valley of Death 
Rode the six hundred. 

Officers and men all knew quite well that such an order 
ought not to have been given, but that did not matter. 
They also knew that their duty was only to obey. Not a 
man flinched. They rode gallantly up to the deadly can¬ 
non ; and when they returned from the charge, less than 
half their number were living. They had taken neither 
guns nor prisoners, but their heroic courage has made their 
charge one of the most memorable in the annals of war. 

The next battle that took place was the battle of Inker- 
mann. It was called the soldiers 7 battle because there 
was very little movement of troops in it. Most of the fight¬ 
ing was done hand to hand. When the soldiers had used 
all their shot, they took up stones and threw them at the 
enemy; and English and Russians were mixed up in such 
dense crowds that the men had to use the butt ends of 
their muskets. 






CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE 















176 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


Worse than any battle was the hard Crimean winter. 
The men suffered terribly from cold, hunger, and want of 
proper clothing; six times as many men died of disease 
as of wounds. 

Sebastopol was taken in the year 1855, and peace was 
made the year after. More than six hundred thousand 
men lost their lives, and there were probably more than a 
million widows and orphans as a result of this war. 

Reading-Note 

Tennyson’s famous poem "Charge of the Light Brigade.” 


XL 


THE LADY WITH THE LAMP 

In the Year 1854 

Every boy and girl can remember how they liked to see 
soldiers marching through the streets during the recent 
World War. How fine they looked in their khaki uniforms, 
keeping step to stirring and patriotic music. Perhaps some 
of us have wished that we could lead that sort of life. It 
seemed to young folks a fine thing to become a soldier, to 
sail across the ocean and fight for our country. But if we 
were to try it, we should find that a soldier is forced to 
endure many hardships and pass through many perils. We 
may be sure that all is not glory and fame for a soldier in 
active service. He may be killed on the battlefield, or he 
may be badly wounded and left on the field hours without 
help. Again, he may be sick or wounded and carried to a 
hospital and remain there for many weeks, far from home 
and friends. 

In time of war a soldier’s life must always be one of 
hardships and peril, and yet it is not so full of needless 
suffering now as it was years ago. This is because there 
are now plenty of skilled doctors, well-trained nurses, 

177 


178 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


and up-to-date hospitals with their ample sanitary supplies 
to take care of the sick and the wounded. 

When the war in the Crimea began things were in great 
confusion in England. The government was not ready to 
carry on a war. Thousands of soldiers died from want of 
proper food and clothing. The sick men were sent to one 
place, and the medicines and surgical supplies to another. 
There were not nearly enough doctors and nurses to take 
care of the sick and wounded. 

This was the time when a good and brave English 
woman named Florence Nightingale made up her mind to 
go out to the war in the Crimea and see what she could 
do for the sick and suffering soldiers. She found some 
other women who were willing to help her, and they went 
together. 

There was plenty for them to do. The soldiers lacked 
proper food and clothing and surgical supplies. Many 
died who might have recovered. 

But Miss Nightingale was not cast down. She made 
strict rules about fresh air and food. She knew how to 
make people obey. She and her nurses worked so hard 
that soon things began to mend, and the men had a chance 
of getting well. 

It is sometimes as hard to look on at pain as it is to 
bear it. Miss Nightingale was very brave and did not 
think of herself at all. She stood beside the sick, wounded 
men when they had to suffer great pain. She knew that it 


THE LADY WITH THE LAMP 


179 

helped them to see her at their bedside and to feel that 
she was eager to relieve their suffering. 

All the soldiers grew to love her and to bless her name. 
We cannot wonder at this when we hear of all she did 
for them. 

The nurses had only just arrived in the Crimea when a 
great battle took place. In a few days hundreds of wounded 
men were needing their care. They had more work than 
they could do. From morning till night they passed from 
bed to bed in the overcrowded hospitals, doing all that 
kind hearts and gentle hands could do to soothe pain and 
give comfort. Florence Nightingale never seemed to grow 
weary. She was everywhere. Quietly she moved to and 
fro and was ever ready to take up a fresh task. 

One soldier sent a letter home in which he said : "To see 
her pass is happiness. She would speak to one and nod 
and smile to many more, but she could not do it to all, 
you know. Dying men sat up to catch the sound of her 
footstep or the flutter of her dress, and fell back on the 
pillow content to have seen her shadow as it passed.” 

At night, when silence and darkness had settled on those 
miles of beds, she was often seen passing along with a lamp 
in her hand, like an angel of mercy. Thus she came to be 
called "The Lady with the Lamp.” By that name she was 
known to the day of her death. 

When the war was over, Queen Victoria gave Florence 
Nightingale the Royal Red Cross. Like the Victoria Cross 


180 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

of our time, it is a reward for bravery, but of another kind. 
Since then other women have received the Royal Red 
Cross, but none have been more worthy of it than the 
Lady with the Lamp. 

A large sum of money was given by a great many per¬ 
sons to reward Florence Nightingale for her good work. 
By her wish it was spent in making a home where nurses 
could be trained and taught how to care for the sick. Since 
the time of Florence Nightingale there have been many 
good and brave women who have nursed sick and wounded 
soldiers, but we can never forget the Lady with the Lamp 
or the Angel of the Crimea, as Miss Nightingale was some¬ 
times called. 

Let us remember this. It was in the Crimean War that 
Florence Nightingale began her work as an army nurse. 
She was the first woman to serve as a nurse upon the battle¬ 
field. From her wonderful service there has resulted the 
widespread Red Cross movement, the marvelous improve¬ 
ment in hospital conditions, and the establishment of hun¬ 
dreds of training schools for nurses during the World War. 


XLI 


THE MUTINY IN INDIA 

In the Year i8$j 

England has gone through many troubles and dangers 
and has weathered many a storm, but perhaps the most 
terrible danger she ever faced was the mutiny in India, 
which broke out in the year 1857. 

India is the largest and most thickly peopled of the 
British foreign possessions, and a large army is needed to 
keep it in order. Sixty years ago there were not English 
soldiers enough for the Indian army, and so the home gov¬ 
ernment was forced to hire native troops. These troops 
are called Sepoys. The Sepoys are men of various re¬ 
ligions. One of their religions teaches its followers that 
the cow is a sacred animal, and another teaches that all 
good men ought to detest the pig. 

Now the enemies of England went secretly to see these 
men, and to some they said that the cartridges they used 
were greased with the fat of the cow, while to the men of 
the other religion they whispered that swine's fat had been 
employed. The Sepoys were very angry and rose against 
their officers. 

181 


i 82 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


Whether the greased cartridges were the real reason 
for their mutiny is not certain; perhaps there were other 
causes. They not only rose against their officers, but they 
murdered many English men, women, and children. 

In one city General Wheeler was shut up with a few 
hundred men and more than five hundred women and chil¬ 
dren in a hospital, round which ran a low mud wall. The 
rebels surrounded this place and poured in upon the Eng¬ 
lish residents a fire of bullets day and night. From the 
hour the siege began, the suffering and the courage of 
the English were incredible. There was no roof between 
the gallant defenders and the scorching sun; the shadow 
cast by the low mud wall was but a narrow line. 

There was only one well, and it was a target for the 
Sepoys. The heroes who dared to draw water did so at the 
risk of their lives. At last hunger did what the enemy 
never could have done. Finally the leaders of the Sepoys 
offered to let General Wheeler and his company go in safety 
down the river Ganges if he would only give up his guns, 
arms, and treasure. He agreed; and the English, leaving 
their arms, were marched down to the boats. 

No sooner had they entered the boats than the Sepoys 
opened fire upon them. Many of the English were killed; 
the rest were taken back to the city, where the men were 
put to death, and the women and children shut up in one 
large room. Then some Sepoys went in with sabers and 
put every one of the women and children to death. 


THE MUTINY IN INDIA 


183 

In Lucknow, a city in the north of India, the British 
governor saw that the natives were going to attack his 
people. He put the women and children into the Residency, 
as the chief fortress in an Indian city is called. The soldiers 
had fortified this place, and were determined to die rather 
than let the Sepoys do any harm to their wives or little ones. 

The natives in great numbers attacked the fortress again 
and again, but were always driven back. Still it was a 
fearful time for the English. For they knew that if these 
terrible crowds of cruel natives outside could once get into 
the place, they would kill all the English without mercy. 
For four months they held out, while fatigue, disease, 
hunger, and sorrow were preying upon the soldiers and 
their wives and children. 

Everyone, from Sir Henry Lawrence, the governor, 
down to the humblest drummer boy, showed the utmost 
patience and courage. Sir Henry was killed by the burst¬ 
ing of a shell in the room in which he was sitting. 

As he lay dying, his parting words to his friends were, 
"Mind, never give up; but let every man die at his post.” 
He knew well the cruel enemy they had to deal with. 

The great and good General Havelock, after fighting 
twelve battles on his march, at last cut his way into Luck¬ 
now and saved the little garrison. But Havelock’s force 
was too small to drive away the Sepoys and to put down 
the revolt, and he in his turn was soon shut up by a much 
larger force of the rebels. 


184 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


Sir Colin Campbell, afterwards known as Lord Clyde, 
was sent from England to help him. When this gallant 
English general was asked in London when he would be 
ready to start for India, which is three thousand miles 
away, he quietly replied, "Tomorrqw.” 

The English people within the fortress were soon re¬ 
duced to terrible straits, with an awful death hanging over 
their heads. At length Sir Colin Campbell, with a large 
British army, brought them all away safely after they had 
been shut up for nearly four months. 

It is said that a Scottish girl, by the name of Jessie 
Brown, was the first to recognize amid the din of battle the 
shrill sound of the bagpipes of the Highland soldiers, which 
told the besieged that their deliverers were near. Jessie 
was presented to the general on his entrance into the fort, 
and at the officers’ banquet her health was drunk by all 
present, while the pipers marched around the table playing 
the familiar air of "Auld Lang Syne.” 

The relief of Lucknow was the last great event in the 
Indian mutiny, as this rebellion was called; and soon after, 
the British rule was established in India more firmly than 
ever before. 


Reading-Note 

Read Selections from Tennyson’s poem, "The Defence of Lucknow. 1 


XLII 


THE VICTORIA CROSS 
In the Year 1856 

Early one morning in June, many years ago, a great 
crowd of people made their way to a famous park in Lon¬ 
don. Men, women, and children were there from all parts 
of England. About nine o’clock various companies of sol¬ 
diers and sailors dressed in bright new uniforms marched 
into the park. At ten o’clock there was the sound of bugles 
and the roar of cannon. This was to welcome Queen Vic¬ 
toria, who was to be present in royal state on that morning. 
She rode on horseback dressed as a British officer. By her 
1 side rode her husband, Prince Albert, known as the Prince 
Consort. 

When the queen had stopped her horse in front of the 
troops, she turned to a small band of men who stood apart 
from the rest of the gayly dressed soldiers. 

These men were soldiers and sailors, but they were not 
all dressed just alike. Their different uniforms showed that 
they were from different parts of the army and the navy. 
They were of all ages and of many ranks. Some of them 
walked with crutches. More than one had lost a leg or an 

185 


i86 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


arm. One man who had lost both legs and one arm was 
carried about in a wheel chair. 

These men had been brought together to meet the queen 
and to receive from her own hands a famous cross. The 
crowd had gathered to see the queen present this cross. 
It was a new cross. No one had ever worn one just like it. 
It was called the Victoria Cross, after the queen. 

This decoration, which men ever since have been so 
proud to wear, is awarded only for acts of conspicuous 
bravery. It is a bronze cross, having a circular disk in the 
middle, on which are the royal crown and crest. This is 
suspended from a ribbon, blue for the navy and red for the 
army. One bar is attached to the ribbon for each additional 
act of bravery which in itself would have won the cross. 

One after another, sixty-one crosses were given to sixty- 
one brave men. As each soldier or sailor came forward to 
receive his cross from the hands of the queen, a great cheer 
went up from the crowd. It was a great day for every 
one of them. 

All those men had done very brave deeds. They had 
risked their lives in some way to help or to save others. 
And for this they were to get the cross. Now we may be 
sure they would risk them again rather than lose it. 

What then is the meaning of this famous Victoria Cross ? 
Why did each man think so much of it? And why did 
Queen Victoria herself, with many men of high rank, come 
there to give it to the winner ? 


THE VICTORIA CROSS 187 

Let me tell you. Its worth lies in the realization that 
no man can get that cross unless he has done some brave 
deed at the risk of his life. Let us remember, if we should 
ever see a man with the Victoria Cross on his breast, that 
he has done some exceptionally brave deed. 

Again and again have men in humble life, as well as 
soldiers and sailors in battle, risked their lives to save their 
fellow men. In almost every battle men do brave deeds 
which the king or queen of the British Empire rewards in 
this way. And so during all these years, and especially 
during the World War, many British soldiers have won 
the Victoria Cross. 


XLIII 


THE LAST JOURNEY OF THE UNKNOWN 
SOLDIER 

In the Year 1920 

Queen Victoria died in 1901 after a long reign of sixty- 
four years, the longest in English history. She was suc¬ 
ceeded by her oldest son, the Prince of Wales, who came to 
the throne as Edward VII. In his coronation oath he 
promised "to rule as a constitutional sovereign in the strict¬ 
est sense of the word” and "to work as long as there is 
breath in my body for the good of my people.” King 
Edward proved a strong and able ruler. He was highly 
respected throughout his kingdom for his deep interest in 
the welfare of his subjects. To the surprise and grief of his 
people, after a brief reign of nine years he died in 1910. 
He was succeeded by his son, the Prince of Wales, who 
took the title of George V and was crowned in Westminster 
Abbey in 1911. 

King George had been crowned only three years when 
the World War began in 1914. Of course this book is not 
large enough to tell you about this terrible war, which con¬ 
tinued for four years. Some day when you are older and 
have been promoted to a higher grade in your school you 

188 


THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER 189 

may like to read about the vast armies that fought, the 
tens of thousands that were killed and wounded, and the 
stupendous cost in money and the destruction of property 
that followed during these four years. It is enough for us 
to say that this, the greatest of wars, the World War, 
ended on what is called Armistice Day, November 11, 
1918. Now we are ready for our story. 

Shortly before noon on Armistice Day, in the year 1920, 
an unknown soldier ended his last journey. In the corner 
of Westminster Abbey dedicated to the memory of Eng¬ 
land’s famous soldiers and statesmen, an unknown private 
soldier of the British Empire was laid to rest with historic 
pomp and pageantry. 

Who was this soldier, then, to be buried with such rare 
honors and dignified ceremony? Was he the son of some 
great nobleman? Was he the son or brother of some coal 
miner? a London bank clerk? a professor or a pale- 
faced student from Oxford or Cambridge? Had he been 
a tramp along the byroads of Scotland? Was he some 
sturdy Irish or Scotch lad who had never before left his 
home, in some little hamlet in his native land? Had he 
gone forth from England, or Canada, or Australia, or 
India, or New Zealand? To whom had he said good-by 
as he went to endure the hardships and horrors of war? 
No one knew. It did not matter. It was enough that 
he was a private soldier of the British Empire who had 
fought and died on a battlefield in France. It was enough 


190 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

that he had been a part of the mighty system of an empire 
at war, of a mighty nation that had depended upon simple 
men like him. 

And what a journey this unknown soldier made! From 
some humble home he went forth to do his part in the great 
Armageddon. 1 Unskilled, untrained, unafraid, he left his 
home for a foreign battlefield. Perhaps he never fully 
understood the issues for which he was fighting. To him 
perhaps it was a glorious adventure, a kind of picnic in 
khaki, with interludes of damp, distress, and danger. 

And now this unknown soldier, buried in an unmarked 
grave in France, was to begin one of the most wonderful 
journeys ever heard of. Taken from a grave on a battle¬ 
field in France and placed in an iron-bound casket of oak, 
the body of this British warrior, an unknown soldier, was 
escorted to Boulogne with solemn pomp and ceremony. It 
was there placed in the custody of a British officer of the 
highest rank and carried on board a British destroyer for 
a voyage across the English Channel to the homeland. 

On the morning of November io, 1920, France sent 
Marshal Foch and men from her war-scarred regiments to 
salute the departing soldier. Men selected from the army, 
navy, marine, and air force guarded the casket covered 
with flowers on the deck of the destroyer. The coffin was 
covered with the Union Jack that had covered the body of 
Edith Cavell. 

1 A place mentioned in Revelation xvi, 16; a place of great slaughter. 


THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER 


191 

After landing in England, the body was carried to the 
Dover Station in solemn escort made up of army and naval 
officers of high rank. On Thursday another solemn proces¬ 
sion escorted the body to Westminster Abbey. Over the 
coffin lay the Union Jack taken to the front by an English 
chaplain and dyed in soldiers’ blood. King George, as the 
chief mourner, with his two sons, the Prince of Wales and 
the Duke of York, followed immediately behind the casket. 
In the midst of England’s glorious dead the body of the 
unknown soldier was lowered into its last resting place. 

Perhaps the most solemn moment of the ceremony was 
when the Dean of Westminster, reciting the burial service, 
came to the words " Earth to earth, ashes to ashes,” and 
King George, standing at the head of the opened grave, 
sprinkled on the casket a handful of the soil of France. 

And here the journey of the private soldier of the British 
Empire who died on a battlefield in France ended. He lay 
buried in Westminster Abbey. His grave, banked with 
flowers, was guarded by men from all branches of the 
service. His king and the nation mourned for him. In 
the great silence millions prayed for him. Every woman 
who had mourned so long the loss of a son or a husband 
during the great Armageddon felt in this unknown battered 
body the material presence of her beloved dead. 


XL IV 


BRITAIN THEN AND NOW 
In the Year 1924 

Many, many hundreds of years ago, England, as we 
learned in the first story of this book, was inhabited by a 
half-savage race of people called Britons. When the great 
Roman general Julius Caesar came to Britain nearly two 
thousand years ago, he found these people in it. He has 
told us in a diary he kept that they were a race of strong, 
well-built, and hardy men, swift as deer on foot, and brave 
and fearless as their own wild cattle. 

Their common dress was made of the skins of the 
animals that roamed through the pathless forests. They 
spent most of their time in fishing and hunting. With 
their light basket canoes slung across their shoulders, they 
could travel from lake to lake or from river to river. 

Above and around circled the various birds which had 
their homes in the forest. In the wilder parts flew the 
golden eagle, king over all the birds in the air; and by 
the seaside, the osprey. A wolf might be lying in wait 
by the side of the path, or the more savage brown bear 
might be out in search of prey. 

192 


BRITAIN THEN AND NOW 193 

How changed is everything now! The forests have been 
cleared away, and their place is now filled by fields of grass 
or waving grain. The country is now studded with large 
cities, which are full of busy, well-dressed people, living at 
peace with each other and obedient to the laws. Where 
once the ancient Briton paddled about in his hide-covered 
canoe, countless steamers and sailing vessels now move 
to and fro. 

There were then no roads; at best there were only nar¬ 
row footpaths through the forests or across the moors. A 
slow and toilsome journey on horseback or by stagecoach 
was the quickest way of getting from one place to another. 
Now one can travel by steam cars, automobiles, or airships 
at the rate of many miles an hour. Messages are now sent 
broadcast all over the world by the aid of the telephone, 
the wireless, and the radio. 

The English people are known all over the world as 
makers of cotton, woolen, and many other staple goods, 
and as sellers of glass, china, ironware, and countless other 
articles of trade. These goods are sent out in sailing 
vessels and great steamships to all parts of the world, 
and tea and coffee, sugar and rice, grain and timber, and 
hundreds of other things are brought back. 

Never since the time of King John, more than six hun¬ 
dred years ago, has the foot of a foreign foe touched the 
soil of Britain. Shakespeare thus alludes to England in 
his play of King Richard the Second : 


194 


STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 


This royal throne of kings, this scepter’d isle, 

This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, 

.this little world, 

This precious stone set in the silver sea, 

Which serves it in the office of a wall. 

But it should never be forgotten that it has been through 
the labors and sufferings of many good, brave men and 
women that a nation which began as England did is now 
one of the richest and most prosperous in the world. 

We have come to the end of our stories. We hope you 
have read them with interest and pleasure. We trust that 
by the reading of this little book your appetite will be 
whetted to read, when you are older, longer and more 
complete works. Next to reading the history of our own 
beloved country, nothing in the shape of history can 
be more interesting and more useful than that of our 
mother country. 


Reading-Note 

In connection with this last "story” the teacher may arrange a 
most interesting and instructive informal discussion contrasting the 
wonderful progress made in all that pertains to a higher civilization 
since "Britain in the Old Days,” as described in the first "story.” 


BOOKS FOR REFERENCE AND COLLATERAL 
READING 

The real significance and scope of supplementary reading in schools 
would be lost to the teacher who was satisfied with merely having read 
with the class the preceding "stories.” This book is intended to serve 
as a convenient and interesting basis for more extended work, on the 
part of both the teacher and the pupils. 

Books for collateral reading, study, and reference may be divided 
conveniently into two classes. First, books useful for reading and 
reference which are well provided with tables, indexes, maps, tables of 
dates, etc.; secondly, books that are not provided with these formal 
helps, but that are useful for pupils to read and consult at home on 
topics previously assigned. 

A useful book of the first class is Montgomery’s "Leading Facts of 
English History.” Tappan’s "England’s Story” is also an excellent 
book. These two books are interesting and are provided with ample 
helps to young students. 

Green’s "Short History of the English People” (one-volume edi¬ 
tion) is also noted for its brilliant and interesting style. It is a useful 
reference book for teachers. 

Of books belonging to the second class, one of the best known and 
always interesting to young people, is Dickens’s "Child’s History of 
England.” It still retains its popularity with young readers from the 
charm and vividness of its style. 

Guerber’s "Story of the English” and Mowry’s "First Steps in the 
History of England ” are also useful for collateral reading. 

Two or more of the preceding works are amply sufficient to provide 
both teacher and pupils with the basal books necessary for school or 
home use in connection with an elementary course in English history. 

i9S 


196 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 

There are, of course, many other books suitable for fifth-grade 
pupils which may be enjoyed, but which are not always so accessible 
as the books just mentioned. 

The famous "Henty ” books, referred to in the Notes in the preced¬ 
ing pages, are of a somewhat sensational character, but are based upon 
historic events. They may be occasionally and sparingly read in 
selections by the teacher to the class. They are admirable heroic 
romances, and present great events and famous men in so dramatic 
and so picturesque a light that this author is a great favorite with 
young people. 

For a series of historical books written many years ago, especially 
for children, the author would recommend the little red-covered his¬ 
tories by Jacob Abbott. Six or more are devoted to English kings 
and queens. 




























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